Ulster Unionist peer Lord Rogan has used a House of Lords debate to appeal to the Government to release promised support payments to help Northern Ireland households pay their energy bills.
Speaking in a House of Lords debate on the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement last night, Lord Rogan said a great many people were “deeply worried about their personal finances as the cost of living crisis tightens its grip.”
And he criticised the Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris for appearing on television screens to tell local people that “Northern Ireland-specific spending cuts are on their way.”
Lord Rogan
Lord Rogan said: “He also threatened to increase fares on public transport, raise the regional rates and introduce water charges. What he failed to do was to provide an indication of when Northern Ireland consumers can expect to receive the £400 promised to them through the energy bills support scheme and the £200 home heating oil support payment promised by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement.”
The Deputy Lord Speaker told peers that “it surely cannot be right that while households in Great Britain began receiving their energy bills support scheme payments in October, people in Northern Ireland are yet to receive any payment whatever,” adding that Energy Minister Graham Stuart, “recently admitted that a joint task force set up to deliver the payments had met only twice—I repeat, only twice—between the middle of August and the middle of November.”
Lord Rogan appealed to Treasury Minister Baroness Penn – speaking on behalf of the Government - to “update the people of Northern Ireland on when she expects the first energy payments to be released, and by which mechanism.”
He told her: “It is truly a dominant issue in Northern Ireland at present, as I am sure you will fully understand.”
Responding, Baroness Penn said: “The Government are working to ensure that the people of Northern Ireland receive energy bills support scheme support as soon as possible.”
She told Lord Rogan: “I reassure you and the people of Northern Ireland that support will reach them this winter.”