The average annual spend on domestic energy per household has now breached £1,200. Since 2000, consumers in Streatham and beyond have faced gas price rises of 100% and electricity price rises of 61%. At the same time, the main energy providers have seen their profits rise from £557 million in 2003 to over £3 billion now.

In an article on the Guardian newspaper’s website on 7 August 2008, Chuka wrote:
“Shell, BP and Centrica (which owns British Gas) reportedly made £1,000 every second of the day for the first six months of this year. To put this in context, what BP presently makes in profit every month is roughly equivalent to what my local council, Lambeth, spends on running local services every year.”

Every 10% increase in energy prices leads to an extra 400,000 people joining the 2.5 million already living in fuel poverty in Britain today. Chuka pointed out that people living in communities like Streatham, containing some of the most deprived wards in the country, “are being clobbered.”

So Chuka has called on the government to levy a windfall tax on the energy companies to help ordinary people. Commenting on why he supports this measure, he said,
“I am in the business of politics because I want to build a fairer, more equal, democratic and sustainable world for people here - I think this necessitates, amongst other things, government intervention where appropriate, which is I am calling for this measure.”
“The point is not to punish the energy companies – the winners in this situation - for their unearned fruits, or even that the increase in global fuel prices is their fault; the point is that those fruits should be spread more widely to relieve the burden on the many residents in Streatham, Brixton, Clapham, Tulse Hill and beyond who, faced with these huge price rises, are the loosers here.”

Chuka has said the windfall tax, in the short term, should be ring-fenced to immediately help those struggling with rising fuel bills and to ensure every home is insulated and energy efficient to the highest standards; in the long term, he thinks proceeds could also be invested in renewable energy production. If you agree with Chuka, you can join the campaign for a windfall tax on the energy companies by signing up by here (scroll down to the bottom).

Above, five local residents of Streatham say what they think about the proposal.

Jamie Audsley

My colleague, Cabinet minister Harriet Harman MP, Minister for Women and Equality (and Member of Parliament for nearby Camberwell & Peckham!) has just published the government’s White Paper on the Equality Bill. A “White Paper” is a document produced by the government setting out details of future policy on a particular subject and usually forms the basis for a Bill to be put before Parliament.

From the first Race Relations, Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts introduced by the 1974-79 Labour government - outlawing discrimination on the grounds of race and sex - to the legislation introduced by this Labour government - outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexuality, religion or belief - since 1997, the Labour Party has always been at the forefront of moves to make Britain a fairer, more decent and equal place to live. I know this because, as a specialist employment law solicitor, I use all of this legislation every working week to ensure that employees are treated fairly and not discriminated against by their employers.

The new Equality Bill will build on this fantastic legacy and go further to tackle inequalities which still remain. For example, the pay gap between men and women, though down from 17.4% in 1997, still means that a woman’s full time pay is on average 12.6% less per hour than a man’s; the employment rate of disabled people has risen by 10% in the last decade, but if you are disabled you are still two and a half times more likely to be out of work; and, if you are from an ethnic minority, in 1997 you were 17.9% less likely to find work than if you are white, but the difference is still 15.5% in 2008.

So how, when it passes into law, would the Equality Bill make a practical difference to people living in this area? This list is not exhaustive and the detail of the Bill is still to be finalised before it becomes law (i.e. an Act of Parliament) but here are some details of what is intended:

• Ending age discrimination: Many pensioners in this constituency will have been refused insurance cover because some insurance companies have upper age limits for life insurance or holiday cover. According to the pressure group, Age Concern, 95% of insurers will decline your business if you are over the age of 85. Existing legislation which outlaws age discrimination principally applies in the field of employment - the Bill will extend the scope of the legislation to apply to those providing goods, facilities and services, bringing an end these types of unjustifiable practices, so people are not discriminated on the basis of their age when being provided with goods, facilities and services.
• The new Equality Duty: There are three existing equality duties to promote equality and reduce discrimination for race, gender and disability in the public sector. These duties will be replaced by a new, single Equality Duty on public bodies and will extend to cover gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, and age. This could lead, for example, to extra park benches being provided in local parks by local councils (such as Lambeth or Wandsworth), so that older people can benefit from public spaces as well as younger people; or local police developing an emergency mobile phone text service, and incorporating sign language video clips on its web site to meet the needs of deaf people.
• Requiring transparency: We cannot tackle inequality if it is hidden – increasing transparency is essential to tackling discrimination. In addition to requiring public authorities to publish clear information on their progress on important equalities issues, the Bill will, amongst other things, outlaw secrecy clauses in contracts of employment which ban employees discussing their pay. This does not mean you would be forced to disclose your pay to others but, in situations where you work closely with colleagues doing the same work and you and your colleagues receive variable rates of pay, you would be able to compare what you receive with those colleagues if you want to.
• Extending the scope of positive action: The Bill will allow employers to take into account under representation of disadvantaged groups, for example women and ethnic minorities, when selecting between two equally qualified candidates. Employers will have greater freedom to “fast-track” or select recruits from under-represented groups, as long as they are equally suitable and there is no fixed rule that this must be done in all cases – this is not about employment quotas and will not allow people to promote one candidate above another if that person is less suitable.

The Equality Bill is due to be introduced in Parliament in the forthcoming 2008-09 session. If you want to know more about it, comprehensive details can be found at the Government Equalities Office website here.