From ‘AI-enhanced’ Policy Mogul today:
The House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero Committee has heard estimates that there were 4,706 excess winter deaths in 2022/23 caused by living in a cold home in England, Scotland, and Wales.
A report from the Warm This Winter campaign shows that on half of the key measures to tackle the energy bills crisis, the government is making no progress. On one measure, the government has actually gone backwards by increasing reliance on expensive fossil fuels.
Evidence suggests that a new class system based on access to energy is emerging in Britain, with only a small percentage of households considered to be in the “energy elite” and unaffected by the crisis.
High energy bills have doubled in the last three years, and many people have used up savings and cut back on essentials to afford them.
Living in cold, damp homes has severe health implications, contributing to excess winter deaths and worsening existing medical conditions.
Almost 5,000 excess winter deaths caused by cold homes last winter – Research – PolicyMogul
With colder winter weather and higher fuel costs, we can assume the Scottish figure was at least 500.
What will a Labour win next year do for the people of Scotland?
How about a wealth tax to pay for fuel subsidies for the less well-off?
Rachel Reeves rules out wealth tax if Labour wins next election. Shadow chancellor also confirms Starmer leadership pledge to increase 45p top rate is off the table
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/27/rachel-reeves-rules-out-wealth-tax-if-labour-wins-next-election
The SNP?
First Minister says he may tax the wealthiest more so he can implement anti-poverty programme as government debt spirals
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/06/humza-yousaf-snp-wealth-tax-proposal/
The facts on higher fuel costs?
People in Scotland are spending a larger chunk of their wages on fuel than in London and the South East, new statistics suggest. Figures using data from the ONS and Experian have been published by energy experts at the firm Boiler Central.
https://news.stv.tv/scotland/how-does-the-cost-of-fuel-in-scotland-compare-with-the-rest-of-the-uk#:~:text=They%20found%20that%20in%20Scotland,in%20Scotland%20is%20%C2%A3101.73.
Note, STV again.
The facts on cold, damp Scotland?
Scotland is the coldest part of the UK throughout the year, and has average minimum temperatures of just -0.2oC during the winter. It is also the wettest place every month of the year except May, June and December, and almost always the cloudiest too.
http://www.foreignstudents.com/guide-to-britain/british-culture/weather/location
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Sarwar , the latest failed ” Labour leader” in Scotland , will not support the Scottish Government’s Child Benefit scheme so he will NOT support a proper Cold Weather Payment for Scotland .
He is , apparently , comfortable with kids suffering in poverty and now is happy to stand aside and let people die from the cold .
Which Labour Party did he join ? It must have been the Millionaire Branch of the Kid Starver New New Labour-sort-of-party !
LikeLiked by 5 people
“Note, STV again”
Well I think we all know by now WHO the BBC really work FOR in Scotland and too who they actively work AGAINST…….as the pattern has now been well and truly established as to their methods via WHO they always associate as deserving blame and WHO they CHOOSE to ignore. (but who, as parties, really DESERVE receiving much of the blame based on their policies…both planned ones and implemented ones)
Can anyone recall when the BBC here championed any policy via the SNP that has shown to have had a positive outcome for people…..as opposed to the focus and attention they, the BBC here, have given, in both their time and effort, to any and all policies and decisions assumed by them and the opposition to be yet another #SNPBAD……..Scots themselves, via the BBC here and too the opposition parties, must also then be considered to be #BAD and also stupid as we have chosen the SNP to be our Scottish government, elected them via a majority of MP’s ,over other parties, to represent us at WM and too via various other bodies….like councils…..kinda makes the BBC here and too the opposition parties in the MINORITY via their #SNPBAD position…..as in them both working AGAINST the public in Scotland too…..ain’t THAT the truth though !!!!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Labour blocked two tidal projects on on the Humber. Too expensive at £9Billion. Which could have been a great investment. Years of cheap, safe energy production. Backs Hinkley Point. £Billions over budget and time. A total waste of taxpayers monies with far better alternatives.
Scotland in surplus and nearer the sources pays more for fuel and energy because of Westminster Gov policies. Scotland pays more. No parity. Westminster Gov failed policies.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes indeed Scotland is charged more, by the English government. Meaning that heating and cooking food, lighting, sanitation, healthcare, industry, all businesses, infrastructure, public buildings, transport, and communication are charged at a higher rate for electricity than in the south of England. I’ve been reading ‘Highland Experiment’ a book by James Grassie in the 1980’s, looking into the Uk English Government catastrophic and costly response to calls for the development of the Highlands and Islands in some political quarters, particularly in Scotland. There’s a section about a smeltering plant in Invergordon, and how it was basically sabotaged by the English government, using the excuse it was too expensive to run re energy costs. After months of discussion, bluff, blustering and stalling, by the English government, this is the conclusion.
‘Throughout this period the board had been silent but as the time approached for Scottish ministers to go yet again to their cabinet colleagues it broke cover. On 27th April Bob Cown the boards new chairman, admitted to being deeply concerned and disappointed by the Government’s inability to find a solution to the power problem. Time was running out and the potential alternative operators would not wait forever. In a statement to the press he repeated the by now, familiar argument: the irony of the closed smelter in the area which produced the cheapest power in the UK; the protected position enjoyed by the Angelsey plant; the prospect of a revival in the world aluminium market’.
The plant was closed having cost huge sums of money in the negotiations that went on for a long time, and was sacrificed in order to keep the two plants in England and Wales open.
Thatcher had a hand in it of course, in at least she didn’t give a damn. Many jobs were lost, and no doubt many lives destroyed. Reading about it, anyone could be forgiven for thinking it was never going to be kept open and indeed, the whole issue of energy in Scotland was all part of the sabotage of industry by the English government it seems. They didn’t want Scotland’s hydro power to develop or thrive, they wanted nuclear and coal to thrive, which it did.
LikeLike
O/T (apologies)
Anas Sarwar asked Shona Robson if the Scottish government will “finally commit to increasing wage for Social Care workers to £15 an hour”…..is this to be yet another exercise in mitigation…..where Anas expects our government to rob Peter to pay Paul ?
Or is this Anas pretending that if he were FM that he would do this ?
Like when he said before council elections in Scotland that if Labour win in councils then according to him “There is no need for Westminster to have windfall tax on oil companies. The Labour councillors in the councils are going to do that”……has that happened then ?……are citizens in Labour controlled councils in Scotland now experiencing this ?
Aye loadsa promises can be made when YOU are not the one having to work out the budget…..so I guess the £15 increase would go the same way as the “windfall tax” promise in council elections…..as in NOWHERE…..reminiscent of 2014 really with Labour where they promised so much but delivered not just NOTHING but the opposite of what they promised….take note voters in Scotland who may be considering falling for yet MORE lies from Labour .
LikeLiked by 2 people
We actually don’t need a wealth tax per se, but we do need some serious redistribution via the tax system. The current system is grossly biased against low earners and actively helps the wealthy, particularly the top 10% and the obscenely rich top 1%.
Professor Richard Murphy explains it far better than I could in this article:
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/09/01/i-hate-to-be-a-contrarian-but-we-really-do-not-need-a-wealth-tax-right-now/
He is also currently publishing a series of articles on the subject of Taxing Wealth which promises a range of ideas (well over twenty measures I believe) which are possible under current taxation law provided there is the knowledge and will to tackle the unfairness of the current system. I would urge readers to look at Richards site which provides a wealth (pun intended) of good information on taxation and progressive politics
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/09/06/launching-the-taxing-wealth-report-2024/
LikeLike