Concerns second home owners in places like Cornwall could get energy bills discount TWICE
Critics say the £400 reduction should not be applied to every household
There are calls to scrap that £400 discount on energy bills for second home owners in places like Cornwall.
Last week the Chancellor said ALL households in the UK will receive that, as he announced a temporary windfall tax on oil and gas companies to help fund the move.
However, critics are concerned people with more than one property, such as holiday homes, will be entitled to multiple payments.
Housing campaigner and former St Ives MP, Andrew George, is among those describing the nationwide policy as unfair.
Now he is calling on Conservative MPs to reverse the move, branding it "yet another pay-out" for second home owners who already received Covid aid due to a business tax loophole.
'Ministers need to ensure money isn't wasted'
Mr George said: "Because it's being paid out on the basis of the household, it simply means that if you have a second household, irrespective of whether you actually use energy in that household because it's largely empty, you receive the benefits of taxpayer funding as well.
"I think a lot of people are astonished at that on top of everything else. We do need to direct the money at those people in need".
He added: "I think that it would be more for locals and more for those people in need if they had a method of ensuring that the money wasn't wasted by being given to people who don't need it and who hardly use energy anyway because they're hardly there".