Heat on Brown over high energy costs

Scottish households have accused Mr Gordon Brown of not doing enough to tackle the rising energy bills. The accusation came after Mr Brown admitted to giving up on a one-time cash rebate to poor households. The Prime Minister indicated that the government will now focus on improving the energy efficiency to help lower the energy bills.

According to Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, the government should have gone ahead with a one-time windfall tax on energy giants to help households suffering from fuel poverty.  He further added that the Prime Minister was not aware of the ground realities of poor households. Improving energy efficiency of households will no doubt help lower the bills in the long term.  But the government has to act now to contain the rising fuel bills for businesses as well as the households.  Government’s inaction is plunging the energy rich Scotland into fuel poverty. The coming winter could spell doom for a majority of households.

The Labour Minister John Park responded to the First Minister’s accusations by telling him to put his own house in order first. He added that while Mr Salmond was busy criticising others, his government is taking a big gamble which could make Scotland as the highest tax paying part of the United Kingdom

The UK government is expected to announce new measures to tackle the energy crisis during this week.  But after giving up on a windfall tax on energy companies, a cash rebate is not likely to be the part of the package.