MARCH 2 MIN INTERVIEW

Unite Community, the community wing of Unite the Union, is running a campaign on energy for all. They are concerned about high energy costs and the struggle for people to pay their bills. They are also alarmed by the number of winter deaths due to cold homes. They want the government to provide a basic level of free energy for essentials, with the option to pay more for unnecessary energy. They suggest funding this through a windfall tax on energy companies. They also want an insulation scheme and an end to forced prepayment means and energy cutoffs for those in debt. They advocate for public ownership of energy and the use of renewable sources. In Leeds Central, almost half of households are in fuel poverty. We're from Unite Community, which is the community wing of Unite the Union, and we're undertaking this campaign on energy for all. And we're very concerned about the high energy costs that kicked in not so long ago and are still there, and the number of people that are really struggling to pay their fuel bills. We're also particularly concerned about the high number of winter deaths due to cold homes. If you look at an organisation like National Energy Action, for instance, they estimate that 45 people a day die during the winter months from cold homes. So what we're trying to do is get the government to introduce a basic level of service of energy for people, so that would be free for essentials. Obviously you could pay more if it was unnecessary or superfluous energy. That would cost you at a reasonable rate. Plus you could pay for it with a decent windfall tax on the energy companies. We'd also like the government to introduce an insulation scheme so that there's a safe insulation scheme there and decent homes that are in decent repair. So that's another thing they could do. And stop for the forced insertion of prepayment means. Stop that. And don't cut people's energy off because they're in debt. And of course we think the best thing to do is to make sure that the energy that is used is taken into public ownership, and that any energy that people do use is also renewable energy, so that it does away with damaging fossil fuels. In one constituency in Leeds, Leeds Central, 47% of households, that's nearly half, are in fuel poverty. That's absolutely shocking.