An inquiry into Welsh Labour’s £360 million Warm Homes Programme lacked scale, size and purpose

Welsh Conservatives have slammed Labour’s poor record on addressing fuel poverty, following the news that an inquiry into Labour’s £360 million Warm Homes Programme lacked “scale, size and purpose.”

Concerningly, almost half of the households that benefitted from a Nest Energy Improvement package in 2020 did not live in fuel poverty.

While squandering this money, Labour failed to meet any of its fuel poverty targets by 2018 resulting in an estimated 200,000 Welsh households living in fuel poverty with another 153,000 at risk.

Welsh workers currently have the lowest levels of disposable income in the United Kingdom, providing hard-working families with very little room to adjust to changing circumstances.

Commenting on the news, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Janet Finch-Saunders MS, said:

“The verdict by the inquiry is disappointing but not surprising. Labour’s policies have continued to be out of touch with the needs of the people of Wales and its poor record on addressing fuel poverty speaks for itself.

“We need to see more direct action in tackling fuel poverty, not wasting money on ineffective vanity projects.

“Labour Ministers in Cardiff Bay need to stop playing politics with the rising cost of living and address the real very concerns that people in Wales have.”