Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Households in rural Scotland ‘lumbered with a rural premium,’ MPs warn
Snow in Leadhills village in South Lanarkshire, December 26, 2022

IMPOVERISHED households in rural Scotland have been “lumbered with a rural premium” during the cost-of-greed crisis, MPs warn.

Westminister’s Scottish affairs committee has challenged both UK and Scottish governments to act, after their investigations uncovered evidence that rural communities routinely paid more for life’s basics such as energy, food and transport than their counterparts in urban Scotland.

Noting that the highest rates of fuel poverty in Scotland were found in the Western Isles, Highlands, and Argyll and Bute, its report concluded that government “energy support provided was not sufficiently rural-proofed — it did not account for additional costs required for many households in rural Scotland.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump during a press conference at Chequers, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, on day two of the president's second state visit to the UK, September 18, 2025
Scotland / 25 September 2025
25 September 2025
Members of Scotland's tenants' union Living Rent organised a protest outside the Edinburgh City Council Chamber to highlight concerns about the scarcity of housing, January 2018
Scotland / 25 September 2025
25 September 2025
HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow
Scotland / 24 September 2025
24 September 2025
A general view of the University of Edinburgh Old College, Edinburgh
Scotland / 24 September 2025
24 September 2025
Similar stories
A general view of a Salmon farm at Red Bay in Co Antrim
Britain / 17 January 2025
17 January 2025
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves during an 'in con
7 October 2024
7 October 2024