Islington TPA supporters were out on one of London’s hottest days of the year so far for a local launch of our ‘Stop the Energy Swindle’ campaign. On a busy Saturday lunchtime in Highbury Barn, the attractive shopping parade in north Islington, they handed out leaflets and chatted with shoppers and local traders, letting them know about the huge increases they can expect on future energy bills.
‘The majority of people we’ve spoken to are clearly concerned about their gas and electricity bills,’ said Henry Zarb, Islington TPA coordinator, ‘and many of them say they’ve already gone up significantly, so the prospect of even more taxes and increases in their bills is definitely not something they welcome. The fact is that the current policy on energy is completely unrealistic: massive tax-funded subsidies are going towards promoting costly and inefficient power generation methods, while the best and most obvious solutions are actively being ignored. When even the National Grid suggests that large companies could experience blackouts as early as 2015, it’s time for a radical change of direction.’
‘I’ll definitely write to my MP about this,’ said Highbury gift shop manager Katie Georgiou,’ we’re always worrying about bills, and I’ll give a leaflet to my mum.’ Our supporters also spoke to a number of other local shopkeepers, including the local butcher, fishmonger and hardware store owners, and they made it clear that they supported the campaign and that they were concerned about any increases in their energy costs.
If you want to protest to your MP about the government’s wasteful and expensive energy policies, click on www.energyswindle.org