Warnings have been made that homes being left without heating as a result of surging energy prices will kill British children.
Children in the United Kingdom may be killed as a result of their parents or guardians being unable to afford heating for their homes this winter, experts have now warned, with many other children who do manage to get through this year’s coming cold winter to be left with a myriad of health problems.
The warnings come amid reports that as many as one in four Britons will not heat their homes over the winter months due to the price of energy being so high, with the UK’s Chancellor now saying that he is “deeply concerned” at the prospect of citizens freezing to death in their own households.
According to a report published by the Institute of Health Equity, both children and adults who are plunged into energy poverty over the winter will face a significantly increased likelihood of suffering various health complications, especially in regard to their respiratory systems.
While the study concluded that it will be older people most at risk of dying as a result of the cold, researchers also emphasised that children would also be affected by such dire conditions, with other experts telling The Guardian that children in vulnerable households would be at serious risk over the winter months.
“There will be excess deaths among some children where families are forced into not being able to heat their homes,” the publication reports Dr Simon Langton-Hewer as saying.
Meanwhile, Polly Nate, the chief executive of housing charity Shelter, told the paper that many in Britain were already beginning to struggle with energy-related hardship that was now endangering their health.
“Mould climbing the walls and wrecking cots, and children being hospitalised because of poor housing may sound like the stuff of nightmares, but this is reality for a worrying number of families,” she said.
With some polling estimating that up to one in four Britons could leave their heating off over the winter in a desperate attempt at getting through the cost of living crisis, with the country’s current Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi, recently saying that he is “deeply concerned” at the prospect of citizens freezing to death in their own homes in the coming months.
“I am working with the companies… to make sure those people who are really struggling get that help both financially and personally,” broadcaster Sky News reported the politician as saying.
The Tory bigwig also made absolutely clear that the current UK administration had no intent on backtracking on its hardline opposition to Russia, saying that the country would “remain committed to helping Ukraine get their country back” from invading Russian forces.
However, not all European countries appear to be willing to prioritise Ukrainian interests to such a degree, with the Hungarian government announcing on Thursday that they have signed an agreement with Russia securing even more gas for the EU state at a time when Moscow is cutting supplies to other nations on the continent.
“Our power supply is safe!” declared the country’s Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, on social media, who emphasised that the new gas consignment would be delivered by Russia on top of already existing contracts.
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