Ministers accused of 'pathetic excuses' in fuel poverty debate

The Scottish Government has been accused of making "feeble" and "pathetic" excuses over its spending on fuel poverty.

The SNP administration has allocated £103 million to the fuel poverty budget in its 2016/17 draft budget, although it spent £119 million in 2015/16.

The reduction comes as ministers face missing a key target to ensure that by November 2016, so far as is reasonably practicable, people are not living in fuel poverty in Scotland.

About 850,000 Scottish households are in fuel poverty.

A household is in fuel poverty if, in order to maintain satisfactory heating, it would be required to spend more than 10% of its income on all household fuel use.

Attacking the budget cut during a debate at Holyrood, Liberal Democrat Jim Hume said: "That is disproportionate, that is regressive.

"It is not just bad for people's pockets, but for their health, and leads to further pressures on our precious NHS.

"This Government needs to think outside the box - spend to save. Spend to reduce fuel poverty and spend to reduce the financial burden on the NHS.

"I call on the Scottish Government to reverse the fuel poverty spending cut, join the other parties in reassessing its 2016 poverty target set by this parliament and commit to additional measures which will enjoy cross-party support."

Housing minister Margaret Burgess said £15 million of consequentials had been taken away from the Scottish Government as a result of the UK Government halting a green homes improvement scheme.

"No-one has yet come across and said where to find that £15 million that has been taken from the Scottish budget," she said.

"I came in here to hear the Liberals shouting for more money for education, I am now hearing them shouting for more money for fuel poverty.

"What I am saying to them is show us where to get that money in a fixed budget. If they can do that, we'll consider it in detail.

"We are continuing to demonstrate our commitment to tackling fuel poverty head on by maintaining the expenditure in the budgets we have under our control."

Labour's Ken Macintosh said the SNP was making "pathetic excuses".

"Yet again it is either all the UK Government's fault, or the power companies, 'nothing to do with us guv, we've done all we could'," he said.

Conservative Gavin Brown said fuel poverty had become the Government's "Achilles heel".

"The amendment laid down (by Ms Burgess) and the contributions so far, I have to say, have been pathetic," he said.

"They have been a very feeble and lame tale from a government whose record in this area is genuinely poor."