GREEN MSPs are threatening to block the SNP Government's budget plans for next year unless ministers back plans to spend £100m a year insulating every home in Scotland.
The support of Holyrood's two Green MSPs is crucial for the minority SNP Government if it is to get enough backing for its annual spending package. But the pair say they will sign up to a deal only on condition that ministers support their comprehe
nsive insulation plan.
The Greens claim that £100m a year for 10 years would pay to insulate every home in Scotland properly, saving each homeowner £340 a year.
The scheme would also subsidise homeowners who want to generate their own electricity by placing wind turbines on their roof. The Greens claim that ministers could get power companies to meet half the cost of the huge programme, as has been done in parts of England.
The plan is unusual in that it would apply equally to every home in Scotland, no matter how wealthy its occupants.
Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "Policymakers have spent a quarter of a century trying to target the fuel poor, and they have missed over and over again. The only way to be sure every person in fuel poverty has a warm home is to insulate every home in Scotland."
He added: "The failed approach from Labour in London is to means-test, to set up a hotline and see who rings it, to set arbitrary eligibility criteria, and to pay only part of the cost."
Green MSPs believe they have a good chance of getting SNP support because of the alternatives the SNP faces.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for a 2p cut in income tax, which is deeply opposed by the SNP. Labour, meanwhile, would be expected to demand the entire budget be rewritten, in return for its support.
The full article contains 315 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
