Fuel and Power for Domestic or Charity Use

Part of Clause 42 – in the House of Commons at 9:15 pm on 10 May 1993.

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Photo of Tommy Graham Tommy Graham , Renfrew West and Inverclyde 9:15, 10 May 1993

I never thought that we would see the day when, once again, the Government would put the boot into our elderly people.

Does the Minister know the cost of a bag of coal, a gallon of paraffin or a bottle of Calor gas? I do, because I have lived in such circumstances, and my constituents still do. It is abysmal for the Government to propose a 17·5 per cent. VAT rate on fuel: they do not know what our people are suffering. Unemployment is at 3 million, and more than 9 million elderly, sick and disabled people have had their incomes savagely reduced by a pitiless Government. We have suffered for 14 years under a cold-hearted and cruel Government. This provision will cause great harm to the elderly. The Government are inflicting euthanasia upon them. That is how the Government intend to cut the bills: kill the elderly behind their front doors by making sure that they cannot afford to heat and eat.

For 14 years, the Government have mismanaged the economy. They have plundered our resources and sold the family silver. Now they expect elderly people to burn their furniture to give them a bit of heat. That is the level to which the Government have sunk.

I have worked with charitable organisations for years and years. The Government are putting more and more pressure on voluntary organisations to do what the Government ought to do: look after the elderly and the disabled and ensure that the unemployed can afford to heat and eat. Conservative Members ought to put an end to this savage, retrograde step by voting with us in the Lobby. I hope that Tory Members will have the guts to come into the Lobby with us and stop this imposition of 17·5 per cent. VAT on fuel and power now. I hope that they will show that they care for our elderly people.