Welcoming the report today (Monday 2 December 2013) by the Environmental Audit Committee into energy subsidies, Friends of the Earth Economics Campaigner David Powell said: “MPs are spot on. The only way to tackle the scandal of fuel poverty and rocketing energy bills is through a well-funded programme of insulation – and not hand-outs for oil barons and fracking firms, under a veil of green-bashing.
“It’s astonishing that the Chancellor is preparing to slash funding to insulate the homes of the poorest in society, while throwing billions of pounds of tax breaks at oil and gas firms to keep the nation hooked on increasingly costly fossil fuels.
“There are good subsidies, and extremely bad ones – Government funding should be targeted at energy efficiency and renewables and building a low-carbon power system we can all afford.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. Friends of the Earth research, submitted to the Committee and cited by witnesses, revealed that the tax breaks George Osborne has given to North Sea oil and gas in 2012/13 were worth a total of £2 billion to the industry.
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