Defeat for fuel poverty campaign

Protesters have called for a windfall tax on energy suppliers' profits

Campaigners who have been trying to force the government to spend more on ending fuel poverty have lost their case in the High Court.

Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged said ministers were not doing enough to meet targets for helping people who cannot heat their homes adequately.

But Mr Justice McCombe, at the High Court in London, dismissed the claim.

Lawyers for the government had said it was doing its best in the face of dramatic increases in energy prices.

Additional deaths

Michael Fordham QC, representing both Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged , said fuel poverty was "a blight upon society" and that some five million homes were expected to be under-heated in Britain this winter.

A household is defined as being in fuel poverty if in order to keep warm it has to spend more than 10% of its income on heating.

The issue made a significant contribution to the 20,000 to 40,000 additional deaths in the winter months in the UK and also gave rise to environmental concerns, Mr Fordham said.

In 2000, under the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act, the government pledged to do everything "reasonably practicable" to end fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010, and in all households in England by 2016.

The government may have escaped legal reprimand, but it's not off the hook - it still faces the judgment of the five million UK households Ed Matthew Friends of the Earth

Mr Fordham argued the government had done too little to fulfil its promise and the courts should step in.

But government lawyers said fighting fuel poverty was a government priority and that some £20bn had been spent on the issue across the UK since 2000.

In a written submission to the judge they said: "In recent years, dramatic increases in energy prices, a phenomenon which is outside the government's direct control, have caused a significant rise in numbers of households in fuel poverty, notwithstanding the measures taken to implement the strategy."

Campaigners expressed anger at the court's decision to uphold to the government's argument.

'Huge loophole'

Mervyn Kohler, of Help the Aged said, despite the verdict, the government was still "legally and morally" obliged to end fuel poverty.

He added: "Although the government has been given a technical let-off, it cannot sit by while the number of people in fuel poverty escalates out of control.

"In times of crisis, people look to the government for help - it must throw them a lifeline instead of allowing them to sink further into despair and anxiety."

Friends of the Earth's head of UK climate Ed Matthew said: "The High Court's decision reveals a huge loophole in the legal protection for people in fuel poverty - big enough for over millions of households to fall through.

"The government may have escaped legal reprimand, but it's not off the hook - it still faces the judgment of the five million UK households suffering in fuel poverty today."

Possible appeal

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said that the government recognised it needed to do more to tackle fuel poverty.

He said Gordon Brown had already announced a £1bn package which could enable households to save up to £300 every year in energy costs

The spokesman added: "Recent increases in energy prices have made the challenge more difficult, but we are determined to do all we can to help people both this winter and in the future."

Both Help the Aged and Friends of the Earth are considering whether to appeal against the judgement.