By Elena Siniscalco
As Rishi Sunak stood in Downing Street after becoming prime minister, he made a major promise. “The government I lead will not leave the next generation, your children and grandchildren, with a debt to settle that we were too weak to pay ourselves”, he said.
That’s why the recent announcement from the Chancellor to make Britain’s draughty homes more energy efficient was so bittersweet. The ambition – to improve the energy efficiency performance of homes across the United Kingdom – goes a long way to correcting many of the mistakes of his predecessors. But what’s lacking is the political will to do it now, when it will have the greatest impact, rather than kicking the can further down the road.
Energy bills are causing difficulty for millions of families across the country. But for nearly a decade now, since David Cameron pulled the plug on the last major insulation scheme, Britain’s homes have been left behind. Analysis published at the beginning of the year showed that this decision, taken in 2013, risked costing Britain billions in one financial year. And as energy prices continue to remain at record levels, without immediate action the cost of this mistake will continue to be felt for many years to come.
We cannot, and must not, fail to learn from the lessons of the past.
The evidence to urgently kick-start a campaign of mass insulation now is as compelling as it is moral. If the government were to begin this drive now, rather than in 2025, the taxpayer would save over £1.2bn, according to our research from the How To Save It campaign. That’s enough to pay for nearly 30,000 nurses salaries for a year, or nearly 13,000 doctors.
That’s because the government will be covering nearly a fifth of the nation’s bills until April 2024. And whilst it is right that they support those who need help most, it leaves the taxpayer on the hook for every unit of energy used across the country.
Insulating now would reduce the amount of energy used to heat a home or building by up to 30 per cent. And coupled with the fact that there are over 15m homes that could benefit from insulation, that will have a significant impact on the UK’s energy usage, and therefore bills.
It is exactly this sort of long-term thinking that we need more of in the UK. Had sufficient insulation programmes already been implemented, as they have been steadily across Europe, British homes would not have gained the unwanted title of the draughtiest homes in the continent.
It also makes sense politically for the government to support Britons in making their homes more energy efficient. Recent polling has shown that 79 per cent cite the rising cost of living as their primary concern, which provides the government with an opportunity to show that they are responding to the right fears. And with local elections set to take place in May 2023, followed by a general election the following year, coupled with a strong Labour lead in the polls, the Conservatives can use a national insulation scheme to demonstrate they are on the side of the general public.
That’s what Rishi Sunak is known for: as he helped the country during the pandemic with the furlough scheme, now he can help the public during the current cost of living crisis.
Why an insulation scheme has been postponed is the £1bn question that no-one is asking, but the one we all need an answer to.
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