Ben Maguire

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Barker. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) on securing this important debate. Since March this year I, like many Members, have been inundated with pleas from my constituents, including 79-year-old Barbara from Launceston, who said: “Will the Government please do something about the soaring prices of heating oil? I already can’t afford to put fuel in my car. If things don’t change,” she is not sure how she will make it through this winter. In some of the most rural parts of North Cornwall, in villages such as St Breward and Blisland that surround Bodmin moor, up to 97% of households are completely off the mains gas grid. The cost of their heating oil per tank has gone from around £400 up to around £1,200 or even £1,500. Many also rely on liquefied petroleum gas, with no specific support or targeted support outlined so far. They often have no option to switch to a cheaper provider, and when the cold sets in, as it is right now, many face a long and perilous winter of damp and freezing cold. Finally, in the words of an elderly constituent from Nanstallon: “Many elderly folk like us, who have lived off grid all their lives, cannot afford solar panels or heat exchangers—we are stuck with oil and LPG.” Will the Minister please address our concerns and our calls for a price cap on heating oil and LPG, for a free month with zero VAT on heating oil and, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) already said, the removal of standing charges on electricity, as well as extra support for rural households to insulate and upgrade their homes?