26 Feb 2025
What to demand from your politicians
Westminster MPs
The UK government is expected to publish its Warm Homes Plan in the second half of 2025. Until it’s launched, MPs should keep pressuring the government to make the plan as ambitious and fair as possible.
We estimate that £6 billion a year over the next 10 years is needed to insulate the 9.6 million households that are on low incomes and living in poorly insulated homes. But so far, the government has only committed £6.6 billion over 5 years to insulate 5 million homes.
MPs can keep up the pressure on government by writing to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and by submitting a parliamentary question.
Welsh Senedd MSs
The next big influencing opportunity for the Senedd will be in the lead-up to the May 2026 election, when parties and individual candidates can make warm homes central to their election campaigns. Until then, the biggest priority is to unlock more funding from the UK government to fund the existing warm homes programme being delivered by the Welsh Government. Find out more about our warm homes demands in Wales.
Regional mayors
Regional mayors have a growing responsibility for insulation and retrofit programmes. Many are already setting up insulation programmes in anticipation of the UK government’s Warm Homes Plan. Regional mayors are therefore an important target for local campaigns. They have the power to increase the scale, ambition and fairness of warm homes programmes locally.
In May 2025 mayoral elections will take place in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater Lincolnshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, and the West of England. This is a particularly important influencing opportunity as candidates vie for votes. Find out how to campaign on the 2025 mayoral elections.
Local councils
The UK government’s Warm Homes Plan will set out the role of English local authorities in more detail. Until then, you can assess how well your council is performing on warm homes policies by checking out Climate Emergency UK’s scorecards. These scorecards set out actions councils can take without the need for significant additional funding, such as enforcing Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for privately rented homes.
Tactics to engage your politicians
Set up a local petition
It’s important that our decision makers know the breadth of support for action on warm homes. Collect petition signatures using our Warm Homes postcards (order these online for free) or via the online platform Action Network, and deliver them to your local politicians. Read more about building local support.
Make a scarf
Invite your local politicians to a craftivism session and use it as an opportunity to discuss your campaign demands. Politicians will see this is an attractive photo opportunity too. Find out how to make a Warm Homes scarf.
Share local data
See how your local area is impacted by cold homes by entering your postcode on our Near You tool or by looking at our Warm Homes map. We’ve also created briefings for every MP constituency showing the scale of the energy crisis in your area.
Talk your politicians through the findings or email them if you can’t secure a meeting. Alongside the facts and figures, try to include stories of real-life experiences from local people.
Share our report
We worked with the Institute of Health Equity to produce a report on the health impacts of living in cold homes. The research found that 9.6 million UK households are living in heat-leaking, badly insulated homes and have incomes below the minimum required for an acceptable standard of living.
Cold homes double the risk of adults developing new mental health conditions and put 1 in 4 children at risk of multiple mental health symptoms. They’re also associated with physical health issues such as heart attacks and respiratory problems.
Download the report and email it to your local politicians.
Use thermal imaging cameras
Contact us to borrow one of our thermal imaging cameras, and organise a walk with your local politicians to demonstrate the need for insulation in your area. Use our Warm Homes map to find energy crisis hotspots near you.
Organise a meeting with your politicians
Ask your politicians for a meeting to discuss your campaign and what actions they can take to ensure no one has to live in a cold home. Read our guide to meeting your MP.
Use social and local media
Whenever you engage your politicians, make sure to share it on your social media channels and tag them to hold them to their commitments. Encourage them to post about the campaign on their own channels too.
Send out a press release to local media explaining how your politician has engaged with the campaign. This will help keep the pressure on them to take action.
Support
If you need any help with engaging your politicians, get in touch with your regional campaign organiser or email [email protected]. We’d also love to know if you meet your politicians so that we can keep track of engagement across the country.
Remember it’s important to remain politically impartial in your campaigning. Read our guidance to find out more.
