Households and High Streets Paying Price of UK Gov Inaction
Local Stirling MP Alyn Smith has slammed the UK energy market, as research suggests the devastating impact soaring bills continue to have on local businesses across Stirling and Scotland.
Writing to the UK Government, Mr Smith points out new figures from the Centre for Retail Research, which show over 17,000 stores closed across the UK in 2022, up almost 50% on 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, costing 151,474 retail jobs when including online retailers. This is up 43% on the 105,727 jobs lost in 2021.
Research from the British Retail Consortium also predicts energy costs to rise by £7.5bn as state support and the energy bill relief scheme comes to an end in March 2023, as UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reduces state support.
Alyn Smith MP said:
‘The UK energy market is demonstrably broken, for households and businesses alike. State support schemes have been sluggish and should have gone further, and many otherwise viable businesses are facing financial ruin through no fault of their own.
‘Years of underinvestment, a broken privatised energy market and poor strategic oversight of energy supply, source and storage by the UK Government has left Stirling, along with the rest of energy-rich Scotland, vulnerable to this global shock.
‘It is an outrage that pensioners and other vulnerable households face the choice between heating and eating, when they can literally see renewable energy produced by wind turbines from their windows. I’ll be standing up for Stirling’s communities and businesses, and holding the UK Government’s feet to the fire alongside my fellow SNP colleagues. The UK energy market is broken – only with the powers of independence can Scotland rebuild a fairer, greener and more efficient energy system fit for the future.’
Notes:
Attached is a letter from Alyn Smith MP to the UK Government
