Inside Housing has reported today that Campaigners have warned that David Cameron’s plan to ‘roll back’ green levies will lead to an increase in excess winter deaths in the wake of ‘shocking’ figures published today.

Data from the Office for National Statistics revealed that 31,100 excess winter deaths occurred in England and Wales in 2012/13 – a 29 per cent increase on the previous year.

The majority of these deaths were among pensioners; over-75s accounting for 25,600 winter-related deaths in 2012/13.

The UK Green Building Council warned that the prime minister’s controversial plan to scrap the £1.3 billion a year energy company obligation in order to reduce fuel bills would lead to a further increase in deaths.

Paul King, chief executive at the UK Green Building Council, said: ‘The Prime Minister should be in no doubt that these shocking figures are a direct result of how poorly insulated our homes are. If there is any rolling back of energy efficiency schemes such as ECO in the Autumn Statement, these disgraceful numbers are only going to get worse. How much more obvious could that be?’

The latest World Health Organisation research released last year showed that up to 40 per cent of excess winter deaths could be attributed to fuel poverty, amounting to 7,800 deaths in the UK each year.

Landlords use ECO funding to insulate homes and reduce fuel poverty.

A total of 130 organisations – many of which were social landlords that use ECO to insulate homes in order to reduce fuel poverty – wrote to Mr Cameron last week warning that the uncertainty over the future of ECO was ‘having a damaging impact’.

The letter, organised by green benchmarking body SHIFT, said: ‘Many of our members are becoming uncertain about this much needed investment. This will have perverse impact, increasing fuel bills and reducing employment.  ‘We do not accept that measures such as ECO are the cause of increasing energy bills. Indeed they are in the front line of tackling fuel poverty and reducing its impact.’

The group wrote to Mr Cameron again today calling for the prime minister to set minimum annual solid wall installation targets. The government is expected to announce its plans to cut green levies in next week’s Autumn Statement.