With the jump in oil prices courtesy of Trump’s new war in the Middle East, constituents reliant on heating oil are facing big increases to their bills.
Some of my own team use heating oil for their homes here, so I am absolutely alive to the scale of the problem for many households.
The £53 million support package announced by the UK Labour Government yesterday is certainly welcome. It has been promised to “low-income households in rural communities”.
The devil is always in the detail, so I went into the Chamber last night to ask the Minister for Energy Consumers for more information.
I asked what the criteria would be for a “vulnerable heating oil customer”, and how support will work for constituents who may not need to fill up now but will in the near to medium term.
He pointed to the fact that it would be for the Welsh Government to decide how to distribute support here.
That isn’t good enough – households need clarity now – so I will be following up with a Written Question and then liaise with the relevant Welsh Government ministers. Any answers I get I will of course share with constituents.
The Labour Rural Research Group (of which I am a member) moved quicker and launched a survey for constituents last week, which fed directly into the government response.
It has at least been much, much quicker than the Tories’ response to the last energy shock, they took nearly 200 days to announce support following the invasion of Ukraine.
I said in a comment to the Wrexham Leader, sent in on Friday: “Backbench MPs like myself will keep using all avenues available to push for more support.”
I am glad that support has been forthcoming, but we need to see details.