THE soaring price of energy is affecting everyone, and the hardest hit are the poorest, who cannot afford to turn on the heating.

If we continue to rely on fossil fuels, bills will rise in the long term as coal, oil and gas become more expensive while renewable technology gets cheaper. Fossil fuels are also driving climate change and polluting people’s land, especially in developing countries.Yet the big UK banks continue to pour billions of pounds into new coal, oil and gas projects around the world, and the Government is doing nothing to stop them.

Perhaps this is not surprising: research by the World Development Movement shows that a third of ministers in the coalition Government have personal links to either the big fossil fuel companies or the finance companies that bankroll them.

We need a Government that takes both fuel poverty and climate change seriously, not one that puts the profits of big companies before all else.

Colin Sherwood, Clifton Place, York.