Recycle carbon tax cash

WARRINGTON Borough Council wants the Government to recycle revenues from carbon tax to improve the energy efficiency of UK homes.
A motion will be put at Monday’s full council meeting to support the Energy Bill Revolution – a campaign to persuade the government to use the tax to make houses warmer.
It will also call on Warrington’s two MPs, David Mowat and Helen Jones, to support the campaign.
One in four households in the UK are in fuel poverty – that is, they need to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on keeping their homes warm.
By 2016 it is predicted it will be one in three households.
The main reasons for this that gas, oil and coal prices are high and UK homes are among the most energy inefficient in Europe, leaking heat from their doors, walls and windows.
The motion states: “Cold homes are damaging the health of vulnerable members of society, including children, older people and peoples with disabilities.
“Diseases such as asthma are made worse, and people are more likely to have strokes and heart attacks. Illness caused by the cold cost the NHS nearly one billion pounds per year.”
Over the next 15 years, the government will raise an average of four billion pounds a year and recycling this money could bring nine out of 10 homes out of fuel poverty, lower people’s bills,
cut carbon emissions and create jobs.