Fury Grows at 19% Rise in Gas and Electricity Bills

SSP Public meeting in Bathgate

Together with my SSP colleagues Eddie, Susan and Paul I have been campaigning in Livingston and Bathgate these past few weeks gathering support for our petition against the gas and electricity charges and the need for action to counter worsening fuel poverty problem in the area.
We have all been overwhelmed by support from the public who are understandably furious that gas and electric bills have gone up 19% [almost 4 times the rate of inflation] whilst their wages, benefits and pensions have not.
We have arranged a public meeting in Bathgate on 5th October to draw people together and establish a local fuel poverty action group.
The details are on the leaflet below.
This is an issue which is growing in political significance daily. The anger in the population is palpable and the consequences of such increases are serious as more people will die of cold related deaths this winter than ever before.

Scotland's Modern Democratic Republic at Hand at Last!

This official billboard announcement outside the National Gallery of Scotland at the Mound heralds the great day when monarchy is finally ended in Scotland.
I cant wait.

Gas and Electricity Prices - SSP Public Meeting

Former MSP Campbell Martin Joins The SSP

I'm delighted that Campbell Martin the former SNP MSP has joined the Scottish Socialist Party.
I have known Campbell for many years. We were both in the Scottish Parliament together as MSPs. He is a hugely talented socialist activist, widely respected and highly principled. He was expelled from the SNP in 2004 for speaking out against the party's move to the right under John Swinney. A path it has continued to plough under Alex Salmond.
I have been a huge admirer of Campbell's for many years. Like the SSP he is passionate about the need for an independent socialist Scotland. I am sure he will make a great impact in politics in Scotland. I am also sure there are many more people like him looking for a party which puts working people first and champions the case for an independent socialist Scotland, particularly as the country's economy continues to stumble, people's living standards continue to fall and inequalities widen.

Salmond's Cold Comfort to Millions of Scots Facing Fuel Poverty

Here's the reply I received from First Minister Alex Salmond to my letter containing a 2,000 signature petition demanding action to eradicate fuel poverty.

I thought you should see it.

It arrived on the same day as Britain's Fuel Poverty Action Group told Channel Four News the governments figures on fuel poverty grievously understate the extent of the problem. Mr Derek Lickorish, Chairman of FPAG, revealed there are now 6.6 million households in Britain experiencing fuel poverty [defined as spending 10% or more of household income on gas and electricity] with more than one million of these in Scotland.

Scotland has a significantly greater problem pro-rata than south of the border. But Alex Salmond's letter, as you can see for yourself, offers cold comfort to those facing real hardship. His government, in common with his counterparts at Westminster, have cut funding to programmes aimed at reducing fuel poverty. Indeed the SNP made a cast iron commitment in 2007 to eradicating fuel poverty in Scotland by 2014, but this promise has now been abandoned.

The 'agreement' he refers to in his letter 'to spend up to £10million upgrading insulation and heating systems' is unfortunately a pittance in the circumstances. The average household bill for gas and electricity is now almost £1,500 so £10million, even if it was spent on the one million households in severest need, amounts to very little indeed.

Come on Alex, this isn't what you promised us and it certainly isn't what the people of Scotland voted for on May 5th!

2,000 Sign SSP Petition On Gas and Electricity Bills

I sent this letter sent to First Minister Alex Salmond, MSP today

Dear First Minister,


Please find enclosed a 2,000 signature petition gathered by Scottish Socialist Party members in Edinburgh in the past few days expressing public anger at the escalating cost of gas and electricity bills. These signatures illustrate the depth of feeling that exists on this issue. With almost one million families in Scotland now suffering fuel poverty that anger has reached boiling point. Scottish Power, British Gas, SSE and Eon have increased prices by 19%, pushing the average bill for gas and electricity up to £1,500/ year.


This was not therefore the time for SNP Housing Minister Alex Neil to be cutting £20m from programmes designed to combat fuel poverty in Scotland. As if this ‘double whammy’ of increased prices and reduced Scottish Government support was not bad enough George Osborne has also cut the lifeline winter fuel allowance to pensioners by £100.


Our enclosed petition urges you to act now and to help those one in three households in Scotland in such dire need. It is time the bills were capped. Wages haven’t gone up, benefits haven’t gone up and pensions haven’t gone up, so power companies cannot be allowed to force more and more people into fuel poverty!


The people of Scotland demand you intervene to provide far greater help to those in need. Doubling the winter fuel allowance to pensioners would help, as would ensuring families on pre-payment cards get a discount rather than paying most for gas and electricity as at present.


I look forward to receiving reassurance from you that working people in Scotland will be given help by the Scottish Government rather than abandoned to market forces and rapacious multinational companies.


Yours sincerely


Colin Fox

Power to the People

It will have come as no surprise to anyone following the great British energy swindle that the third of our big six energy companies has just announced another 18% rise in the price of gas and electricity.
Scottish and Southern Electric [SSE], formerly known as Scottish Hydro, has followed Scottish Power and British Gas in increasing charges by almost 4 times the rate of inflation for its 9 million UK customers. The company blamed the rising cost of gas on world markets for their decision. However, unlike the previous two companies they also took a swipe at Government legislation which forces them to contribute towards fuel poverty initiatives like the 'Warm Home Fund' blaming such 'mandatory environmental and social schemes' for eating into their profits. Heaven forfend anyone poor should get in the way of SSE's record profits, up 50 % in the past 5 years to £1.3bn or the £8m bonuses paid to its top four Executives for that matter!
No wonder public contempt for the energy companies is now at such unprecedented levels!
These companies have forced more than 10 million families in Britain into fuel poverty and have done so with undisguised contempt. SSE, for example have just been found guilty at Guildford Crown Court of using illegal sales methods to mislead people about their price tariffs in a concerted effort to win 'vulnerable' customers away from other suppliers. In a move only matched in its rapidity by Murdoch's decision to close down the News of the World, SSE wound up its sales division with the loss of 900 jobs before the full implications of this particular 'Pandora's box' could be fully inspected.
Scottish Power's charges go up 18% from August 1st. British Gas and SSE have announced similar rises. It is only be a matter of days now before Eon, EDF and Npower each make the same announcement and force millions more hard pressed families into fuel poverty in Britain.
This situation makes a mockery of the free market and privatised power as the price of essentials like gas and electricity rises beyond the reach of millions of families. And perhaps the craziest news yet is that UK investment in gas fired power stations is at record levels as the so called 'diversified energy policy' with its 'basket of energy sources' is rendered useless by the continued and prolonged 'dash for gas'. The answer to this increasingly brutal situation is of course to invest not in gas but in renewables and for the entire energy industry to be brought back into public hands. But that won't happen under the Tories, Labour or the SNP who persist with an energy policy based on greed not need.