People are dying because their homes are too cold

Six people die every day during winters in the north west because their homes are too cold, according to campaigners. New analysis of official data published by Greenpeace UK estimates there have been more than 8,000 excess winter deaths in the region since 2013.

This means that, on average, six people in the North West have died due to living in cold, damp housing conditions every day during the winter months - December to March - over the last 10 years. Among them, was Barbara Bolton from Bury who died in late 2022.

The 87-year-old died after she developed hypothermia having told medics she could not afford her heating. An inquest last year heard that the 'loving' and 'caring' great-grandmother was found 'slumped' in her freezing cold' kitchen by a relative, weeks before Christmas.

READ MORE: How many more will die because they can't afford to put the heating on?

That month, as temperatures dropped to double figures below zero while energy prices skyrocketed, hypothermia cases in England soared by 82 per cent. Earlier this year, Bolton GP Helen Wall said many of her patients are still choosing between heating and eating.

The government says it has invested billions of pounds in energy efficiency measures. But Greenpeace has accused successive governments of failing to reinstate funding that was scrapped after Prime Minister David Cameron decided to cut the 'green crap'.

Subsidies for loft and wall insulation were slashed in 2013, resulting in a sharp drop in government-funded energy efficiency installations which fell by 90 per cent in just one year of the cuts coming into effect. According to Greenpeace, over the past ten years, government backed energy efficiency installations have continued to fall while thousands