LABOUR’S proposed emergency price cap would “transform our broken energy market” and end the “national scandal” of fuel poverty in Britain, the party said today.

A report by charities National Energy Action (NEA) and E3G published to mark Fuel Poverty Awareness Day found an annual average of 32,000 excess winter deaths in Britain over the last five years.

Of that number, 9,700 deaths were “attributable to the avoidable circumstances of living in a cold home,” the report said, adding that British homes are among the least energy efficient in Europe.