Gordon Banks

Gordon Banks MP for Ochil and South Perthshire today called for the Scottish Executive to follow the lead of the Labour Government and introduce a boiler scrappage scheme.

The scheme announced for England in the Pre Budget Report allows for a £400 discount when replacing an old boiler.

Gordon Banks said today,

“The recent announcement by the Scottish Executive that they have not ruled out bringing in a boiler scrappage scheme is not any step forward. This was announced in Westminster in December, why have the SNP Executive taken 6 weeks to do nothing other than issue some ifs, buts and maybes.

I am calling on the SNP Executive to take this decision and take it now.

Many of my constituents could benefit financially from such a scheme whilst at the same time it would boost the economy and play a parting reducing CO2 emissions.

I have received representations from industry who are quite frankly shocked at the fact that such a scheme has not been implemented in Scotland and it is high time that the Executive took the decision and acted positively.

The construction industry is reeling in Scotland and the Executive must take action on this matter now.

Domestic heating accounts for around 14% of the UK ’s CO2 emissions and replacing old with new will reduce the CO2 output which everyone should value.

There are around 4 million G rated boilers in the UK and replacing these with A rated boilers will have a significant impact. Scotland obviously has its fair share of less efficient boilers and this is a real opportunity to do something about the problem

It is estimated that replacing a G rated boiler with an A rated condensing boiler could save a household over £300 a year in fuel bills which is a significant sum.”