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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Defeat for fuel poverty campaign | Defeat for fuel poverty campaign |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Campaigners trying to force the government to eradicate fuel poverty have suffered a setback at the High Court in London. | Campaigners trying to force the government to eradicate fuel poverty have suffered a setback at the High Court in London. |
| Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged accused ministers of not doing enough to meet targets for helping people who cannot heat their homes adequately. | Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged accused ministers of 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. | 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. | 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 groups, said fuel poverty was "a blight upon society" and meant that this winter some five million homes were expected to be under-heated in Britain. | Michael Fordham QC, representing both groups, said fuel poverty was "a blight upon society" and meant that this winter some five million homes were expected to be under-heated in Britain. |
| 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 MatthewFriends 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' | |
| Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said it failed to acknowledge the struggle faced by vulnerable households, and the government's responsibility to help them. | |
| He said: "When the government committed in legislation to ending fuel poverty by 2010 it said it would do everything reasonably possible to make this a reality. | |
| "Yet, it is still clearly failing to do everything within its powers to help the poorest energy customers." | |
| 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." |