Greeny News

"It is a national disgrace that millions of people were in cold homes, they 't heat can afford to suffer - insulating it would help correct poor households save money on heating bills and stay warm and healthy," he said.

Climate change minister Greg Barker admitted the fuel poverty figures were unacceptable but blamed past Labour policies and the state of the UK's housing.

"The fact is that households in Great Britain the most expensive in Europe heat, but we don 't have the most expensive gasoline and energy prices," he said BBC Radio 4' s you and yours program.

"In the next year [we start] the most ambitious home improvement since the second world war, where we 're not just a little bit lagging in people' s loft, but [is] to turn on a whole house basis, Millions of households for the next ten years. "

The Green Deal promises to insulate all the houses, with costs covered by savings in future energy costs. But the government is phasing Labour 's Warm Front program, which provided grants for draughtproofing and help with utility bills available.

The Department 's numbers caused an additional 100,000 in fuel poverty by hiding the true emergency rising fuel prices for millions of the UK' s poorest people, according to Consumer Focus.

"If these [new price rises] are in line with British Gas and Scottish Power, around 12 million people, or 6.4 million British households, are likely to be in fuel poverty," she said.