March column (1)

Written by Malcolm Bruce on Thu 11th Mar 2010

Time for Government to help us tackle our costly fuel bills

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Last week I had the opportunity to lead a debate on home energy efficiency and fuel poverty addressing a wide range of issues raised with me by constituents.

Given the recent long spell of cold, snowy weather people have been understandably concerned at the high cost of fuel which disadvantages people living in Gordon not just because we have colder, longer winters than average but also because we have many hard to treat homes and many that do not receive a gas supply.

Older, solid wall houses and the early timber framed homes comprise as much as half our housing stock. Such homes face a double whammy. They are hard and expensive to keep warm; and they cannot be easily or cheaply insulated.

Energy companies have a responsibility to promote energy efficiency and insulation but they are not subject to detailed requirements so they take the easy option. They offer loft and cavity wall insulation, neither of which is of any or much use to these properties.

There is a lack of good technical solutions and those that do exist are expensive. A co-ordinated programme could give us better, more affordable ways of tackling the problem and substantially reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Added to these problems, a constituency like Gordon has a high proportion of homes that are off the gas main. On average these cost one third more to heat than those on gas - relying on oil, LPG, solid fuel or electricity.

I suggest that energy companies should be obliged to prioritise these homes in their energy efficiency programmes and the government should consider giving such properties access to grants and low cost finance to upgrade to more efficient modern technologies such as micro generation, heat pumps and renewable sources.

In a cold winter the fuel poor - defined as those who spend more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel - may qualify for cold weather payments but only if they are on qualifying benefits.

On top of that the weather stations chosen to determine the temperatures that trigger the payment of cold weather payments are singularly inappropriate.

The area of Gordon round Alford gets cold weather payments based on Braemar, which has triggered 8 times this year. Yet the area round Lumsden and Rhynie which I can personally testify has been as cold and snowy as Alford is based on the Dyce weather station which has only paid out four times this winter.

My recommendation is that the base weather station for the Huntly area should be changed to somewhere more appropriate and, in addition, that as a start, pensioners living off the gas main should qualify automatically for cold weather payments.

Fuel bills for everyone living here on the North East will always be well above the UK average and this year more so than ever. Government support should be designed in ways that help us more too.

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Moving core samples to Notts is insane

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I am in the middle of making representations to stop the removal of drilling core samples from Gilmerton in Edinburgh to Nottinghamshire. These 175,000 samples have been built up over decades and are used by academics and industry in evaluating the geology of the North Sea for future development.

This will be relevant for recovery of the substantial reserves that still remain to be recovered from our continental shelf. Removal is estimated to cost £4.3 million to save an estimated £200,000 a year. But this saving will be worthless if, as is likely, the cores are irretrievably damaged and costs to universities and companies rise.

This may reduce the amount of oil and gas we recover by hundreds of millions and compromise the necessary evaluation for carbon capture and storage schemes.

I believe this proposal is insane and should be reversed.

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Zuma must lead on Zimbabwe

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Zuma must lead on Zimbabwe

Last week I attended a private meeting with President Zuma during his state visit to Britain. He has the honour to be President of a multi racial South Africa. Of course his first priority is to tackle poverty and injustice in his own country.

But as a member of the G20 South Africa has a responsibility to provide leadership in the world and across the African Continent. According to well conducted polls Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has the support of between 10 and 12 per cent of Zimbabweans.

Having visited Zimbabwe last month I can tell you that were there to be a free and fair election in Zimbabwe irreversible change would be delivered. I believe that many more enlightened former adherents of ZANU-PF could be part of the change.

Zimbabwe could become an economic engine of growth and recovery for the whole of southern Africa. But this will only happen if South Africa stands up for the basic rights of Zimbabweans to choose their own destiny. After all they have more Zimbabwean refugees than any other country and have more to gain from a democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe.

President Zuma needs to understand that when he asks for the lifting of sanctions, which only apply to the leaders of Mugabe's regime and not the people or the economy, that there has to be progress towards fulfilling the obligations Mr Mugabe entered into with the inclusive government and which he has consistently flouted.

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Dispelling digital switchover myths

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Consultations are taking place across the North East about the forthcoming switchover to digital TV which takes place for our area in September.

I have been astonished to hear of people throwing their old TV sets away because they think they need to get a new flat screen HD set. This is, of course not the case. I have a set that is more than thirty years old which I have switched to digital simply by connecting a Freeview box through the video recorder.

Similarly, I have heard people requesting a digital aerial. There is no such thing. For most people simply by connecting a digi box to their set will enable them to convert.

For people on benefits there is special help available so I would urge people not to panic just follow the advice available.

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Vince challenges Alex over future budgets

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Alex Salmond has written to Alistair Darling, George Osborne and Vince Cable asking them not to cut the Scottish budget. Vince tells me he has replied telling him that the Liberal Democrats will be laying out plans for tax and spending for each year of the next Parliament in our manifesto and he has assured Mr Salmond that Liberal Democrat plans would not reduce the Scottish budget but in fact increase it.

However, he also added that Mr Salmond acknowledged in his correspondence that from 2011-12, the public sector will face several years of fiscal austerity in Scotland, as well as the rest of the UK.

Justifiably, Vince points out that the Liberal Democrats have led the way on coming up with a credible and rational plan to deal with the deficit. He went on; "It's time that other parties displayed the same openness and honesty with the British people. To that end, I have asked Mr Salmond if he will follow our lead and set out how the Scottish government intends to meet higher budget controls in the coming years".

Answers on a postcard?

8 March 2010

Related Link:

www.malcolmbruce.org.uk.