PROTESTERS will head to Parliament on Friday to condemn the obscenity of increasing fuel poverty deaths in one of the world’s wealthiest countries. 

Fuel Poverty Action and the National Pensioners' Convention have called a mass protest to demand that ministers address the issue. 

Official figures show that in 2019-2020 there were 28,300 excess winter deaths in England and Wales, up almost 20 per cent compared with the previous winter. Of those, 8,500 were estimated to have been caused by cold homes. 

Campaigners have accused the government of failing to address the issue in the autumn budget. 

Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action said: “Deaths from fuel poverty in this wealthy country are not an act of God but an obscenity: they’re a result of deliberate policies on housing, fossil fuels, pensions, benefits, taxes, and wages that cannot be allowed to stand.”

And National Pensioners’ Convention general secretary Jan Shortt has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to intervene with measures to regulate prices and, “most importantly, help those in need afford the basics he and the more well-off take for granted.”

Protesters will rally in Westminster at noon on Friday before marching to Downing Street.