Mark has been campaigning on this issue over a long period to get a fair deal for consumers. Fuel to cook and keep warm shouldn't have to be a luxury accessory for anyone.

Mark has produced a free leaflet on help with heating your home which you can download here.

Locally, he has been working with the North Edinburgh Fuel Poverty Action Group which is running a campaign on pre-payment meters which mean much higher energy bills for households on low-income that are unable to benefit from the discounts available by paying by direct debit and online.

Mark sponsored an Early Day Motion in Parliament to raise awareness of the campaign which you can read here.

To read a report on this elsewhere on Mark's website, click here. You can also find a really good article on the Group's work in Leith and North.

Mark also worked with the Group on the submission of a Parliamentary question on pre-payment meters. To see the question and the response of the Minister responsible at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, click here.

This was a way of allowing the voices of people locally to be heard in Parliament on the issue. Of course, this isn't the only way - Mark often refers to letters from constituents or local intiatives in his speeches but it is a good example of an issue where Mark is working with a local group to try and influence Government policy.

In Parliament, Mark meets regularly with other MPs who are interested in fuel poverty to discuss new ideas on how to tackle the issue.

He also chairs an All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Personal Finance which has been looking at this issue over a long period. In 2007 the Group produced a report on fuel poverty and it also held a further meeting on the subject last year. To read the report, click here.

In October the Group held a further meeting on the issue with David Kidney, the Minister responsible at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, together with representatives from Ofgem, the Energy Retail Association (ERA) and Citizens Advice.

There was some tough questioning of the industry's representative from the ERA, focusing in particular on whether there was proper competition in the energy market and how easy in practice it was for consumers to switch suppliers. The proposals in the Queens Speech obviously show that the Government thinks there is a case to answer.

Mark has also published an article on fuel poverty in the House Magazine which is a political weekly published at Westminster whose editorial board is composed of MPs and peers. To read the article, click here.