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MP calls for 'windfall tax' to tackle fuel poverty
A NEW windfall tax should be levied on Britain's power companies, a former energy minister and Leeds MP has said.
John Battle, MP for Leeds West, spoke out in the wake of a new Government push to tackle fuel poverty.
A household is seen as being in fuel poverty if it spends more than ten per cent of income on keeping warm.
Mr Battle welcomed the move but said it did not go far enough.
And he said the money raised from any new windfall tax should be redistributed straight to those most in need – the poor and the vulnerable.
He served as energy minister in 1997, when the then fledgling Labour Government raised 5.5bn windfall cash from the privatised utilities.
Profits
Mr Battle said: "Look at the profits. As these companies have bought wholesale energy the prices have been rounded up before being passed on to consumers. They have overcharged."
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
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