Having a warm home is a basic human right. Having to choose between heating your home or feeding your kids is a choice no one should ever be forced to make in this day and age.
But yet it is one some people are having to make.
The recent snowfall combined with the current Covid-19 restrictions across Scotland has made that decision even more acute.
In places like Shetland, fuel poverty is very much a current issue and that’s why it deeply saddens me to think that people are still having to make these choices.
The Scottish Government was due to publish its strategy on eradicating fuel poverty in 2020.
Understandably, the Covid-19 pandemic got in the way of that. However, it is nearly a year since this vital piece of work was stopped and there are no signs from the Scottish Government that a resumption is impending.
Highlands and Islands
In a time where we are quite rightfully being told to stay at home this issue is becoming more desperate but yet there appears to be no clear direction or urgency when it comes to tackling the high levels of fuel poverty in the Highlands and Islands.
In 2018 the Scottish Government set itself the target that all fuel-poor households would reach EPC Band C by 2030 and Band B by 2040.
However, this still does not address many “hard-to-treat homes” in rural areas.
People are living in fuel-poor homes across the Highlands and Islands that can’t be fixed in that way, now or in 20 years’ time.
By putting the strategy on ice the Scottish Government is leaving people in need out in the cold.”
Beatrice Wishart MSP
There are also actions the Scottish Government can take now. For example, confirmation that the measures announced in the budget to tackle fuel poverty should be applied proportionally and local authorities which are hit the hardest by the problem should in turn receive their fair share of the funding.
Being able to tackle an endemic problem such as fuel poverty requires a broad-reaching strategy that works to support the communities that need it most.
By putting the strategy on ice the Scottish Government is leaving people in need out in the cold.
The much-promised Fuel Poverty Strategy will be an anchor stabilising the situation for those who can’t afford to heat their homes.
I’m therefore disappointed that its development has been paused for almost a year.
This must be restarted as a matter of urgency so that a warm home is not only a right but a reality.
Beatrice Wishart is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland.