Despite everything, 2025 gives us cause for hope.
Both in Britain and abroad, there’s clearly cause for concern. The rise of the far right, row backs on green promises, and politicians telling us to prepare for war, while Britain and its allies run riot in breach of human rights and international law.
This Labour government seems almost identical to the Tories that came before or even to a future Reform government if our worst fears come true. But wins in 2025 tell us that their austerity agenda can be beaten.
Winter Fuel Payment u-turn
One of the first and worst acts by this government was cutting the winter fuel payment. As part of their public spending cuts, Labour chose first to attack pensioners by stripping most of the £300 allowance to help keep warm over winter.
The Prime Minister and Chancellor thought looking tough was more important than the human impact of risking the lives, physical and mental health of thousands of elderly people.
But no matter how tough they wanted to look, they couldn’t defeat the strength of public pressure.
Fuel Poverty Action spoke out in the media, lobbied politicians and took action with pensioner groups and trade unions calling for payments to be restored, and helping to expose the level of damage being done.
Halfway through this year, after disastrous local election results, Labour buckled and restored winter fuel payments to the majority of pensioners.
This victory for our movement will save countless lives in winters to come and shows that people power can win.
Welfare fightback
Another key target for attacks by this government has been disabled people and other benefit claimants. Labour pledged to slash the UK’s welfare bill by making it harder to claim PIP and Universal Credit.
Just a few weeks after the winter fuel payment u-turn, with momentum behind us, FPA members joined demonstrations alongside our allies to demand the government halt plans that would put further lives at risk.
Street mobilisations and pressure on MPs led to the threat of the biggest rebellion in parliament since Labour took power, and the government was forced to row back their plans.
The changed proposals were voted through in the end by MPs, which will harm disabled people and others on the lowest incomes in society. But collectively we prevented another complete disaster, protected lives and achieved another win in the fight for economic justice.
And this win laid the foundations for another crucial change towards the end of the year. Years of public pressure and campaigning, ramping up since Labour were elected, forced this government into another u-turn. Finally scrapping the cruel 2 child benefit cap, a crucial change that could lift up to 400,000 children out of poverty.
Our wins
FPA have held this government’s feet to the fire on other injustices in the UK’s energy system.
For years we’ve demanded an end to unfair standing charges, now costing £300, that we all pay before firms provide us with any energy at all.
Last year we ramped up the pressure on Ofgem, forcing it to hold a review of standing charges. During the review, we delivered tens of thousands of consultation responses calling for them to be scrapped.
Ofgem refused to do the right thing and scrap standing charges to save us all money. But they conceded that energy companies will have to offer customers a deal with no standing charge. Despite not going nearly far enough, with your support we overcame the energy industry lobby to reduce some people’s bills.
One of our key missions this year has been exposing the scandal behind the government’s failed ECO insulation scheme.
We teamed up with a coalition of groups on the Retrofit For the Future campaign and helped a number of victims of bad retrofit work to organise and speak out in the media.
In October, the true scale of damage was revealed in the media, including 98% of external wall insulation failing. Soon after, at the Autumn budget, Rachel Reeves announced that the terrible scheme is going to be scrapped. As a result bills are expected to come down by £150.
We need to carry on the fight for justice in 2026, for this government to fix damaged homes, win a new scheme that works for residents and brings down bills, and invest in skills and training so future work is up to scratch.
Looking ahead
For Fuel Poverty Action and the fight for social and climate justice, 2026 is going to be a crucial year.
With the rise of new progressive political forces, we believe this could be the year that our demand for Energy For All becomes part of the mainstream discussion on fixing our broken energy system. We are already laying the groundwork for getting it on the agenda.
2025 showed us how fast the world and politics is changing. For better or worse, things that seemed impossible a few months earlier can become a reality. So we shouldn’t place any limits on our ambition for change. Everything is to play for. We have a world to win.
