He is in his seventies with a crippling disease and no relatives. A salesman has ‘sold’ him a solar heating system on the basis of exaggerated claims of savings in fuel costs.
My constituent has signed a credit agreement that will cost him £150 per month for the next 10 years. The best price illustration shows this option plus the accelerated repayments option over 12 months at £713.86 per month The accelerated payment option is however curiously more expensive than the cash option without the 10% discount i.e. £8816 overall compared to £8636 cash.
In any case both options would be unaffordable for him and he has no real understanding of what he has signed for. If this contract had been allowed to continue then the likelihood is that he would have been saddled with a commitment of £150 per month, £1800 per year, for the next 10 years on the pretext that he was potentially saving electricity costs of approximately £360 per year. By this reckoning it would be at least 50 years before he saw any positive financial benefit from the system and he would be 124!
After complaints the company are offering a cancellation of the contract for another fat fee. I shall be talking to the company tomorrow. Is this an isolated case or are there others?
Hero Harry
The hero of today in parliament was Harry Cohen MP. Yes, I did not disagree with a word that Nick Clegg said. For once he was impressive.
But Leyton MP Harry Cohen did remind the House that it was not just the LibDems who voted against the misconceived Iraq war. There were 139 Labour MPs and 16 Tories. Today’s announcement in the Commons was not signposted to backbench MPs. Well not to those of us who were against the war.
There were a suspiciously large numbers of cheerleaders for the war in the Chamber to butter up Gordon. Most MPs were back in our constituencies because all business of any significance finished yesterday. Harry put some balanced back into the questions by reminding the House of the ten of thousands of deaths, the 4 millions exiles and the misery of life in Iraq since the war.
We are all delighted that Saddam Hussein has gone. But the war was based on a lie. History will judge the motives. It was pity today that Gordon Brown postponed the announcement of an inquiry. He will have to do it when the troops come home.
Crunch bites
I raised Newport Job Worries raised at the Welsh Grand Committee yesterday in a question to Stephen Timms, Financial secretary to the Treasury.
Paul Flynn: The manufacturing industry has been the bedrock of the Welsh economy for generations and provided many jobs. The particular crisis at the moment is the lack of demand particularly in the construction and motor industry, which is affecting the steel and aluminum industries. In. particular the Novelis plant in my constituency, and Llanwern steelworks.
Other plants in South Wales face very similar problems and the problems are not internal. They are highly skilled and productive and have been doing a good job for a large number of years. There is a need to establish a bridge to make sure that they get through this downturn. The great fear is that permanent damage could be done to the viability of those industries because of a crisis that is short term.
Stephen Timms: My honourable friend is absolutely right about the impact of the manufacturing sector and it is interesting that at the beginning of this calendar year the Engineering Employers Federation was talking about the renaissance which had unfolded in UK manufacturing. We have seen very impressive improvements in manufacturing productivity in Wales and there are opportunities for manufactures for export given what we have seen happen to the exchange rate. My colleagues in BERR are watching very closely as to what is happening in the manufacturing sector and will be ensuring what can be provided is provided so business can get through this very difficult period and be in a good position to benefit in the pickup in the economy that will follow.
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