Green MP Candidate Carla Denyer – “I want to make sure Bristol residents get their energy bills down for good.”

MP candidate for Bristol West and Co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Carla Denyer, is calling on Boris Johnson to tackle the cost of living crisis – after he failed to take action last year.

Carla recently visited the Malcolm X Community Centre to listen to Bristol residents who are facing shockingly high energy bills.

She said: “Many Bristolians have struggled to get by this winter. I spoke to elderly residents in St Pauls who are already doing all they can to keep their bills down, but are facing price hikes of 54%. This is why I’m calling on the government to give households proper support – emergency grants to cover the costs, and a plan to rapidly insulate Bristol’s homes. I want to make sure residents can keep warm and get their energy bills down for good.”

She added, “Boris Johnson ignored our calls last autumn to tackle this crisis, and next winter could be worse. His plan doesn’t go far enough – it relies on loans that will just burden people with debt. MPs need to back our long-term plan to get us off fossil fuels and make living in Bristol affordable again.”

This weekend, on Saturday the 2nd of April, Carla spoke at the Bristol People’s Assembly Event protesting the cost of living crisis. She outlined the Green Party’s five-point plan to tackle the crisis through a mix of emergency and longer-term solutions. These include:

1. Restoring the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and doubling it to £40. That may not sound like much if you’re on a steady wage, but it’s 50% extra for those struggling on benefits.
2. Extending winter fuel payments to all by providing each household with an immediate additional £320 to help them pay for spiralling energy costs and avoid fuel poverty – as a grant, unlike the Government’s loan scheme which will just push households into debt.
3. Making the polluters pay by introducing an emergency Dirty Profits Tax on North Sea oil and gas company profits, which is the stepping stone to our longer-term policy of a carbon tax to help wean the whole country off fossil fuels.
4. Providing an emergency grant to homeowners, landlords and councils to fund immediate insulation improvements to those at risk of fuel poverty.
5. Investing in domestic energy security by massively ramping up onshore and offshore wind and solar, and moving the green levies from electricity to gas bills.