The Budget on 6 March has been widely criticised as a ‘missed opportunity’ to improve the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing stock.
In what could be the last such tax and spending announcement this parliament, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt’s Budget contained no new measures to boost energy efficiency or home heating decarbonisation.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said the lack of new measures to help homeowners improve energy efficiency was ‘disappointing’.
Juliet Phillips, programme lead on the energy transition at the E3G thinktank, said: ‘Upgrading our cold and leaky housing stock is central to addressing fuel poverty, lowering energy bills, and reducing the UK’s dependency on volatile international gas markets.’
However, she said the Budget had resulted in ‘no action to lower heat pump running costs or create incentives for landlords to upgrade homes in the private rented sector – where one in four households lives in fuel poverty’.
