MAIL COMMENT: A sensible solution in a chilly climate

Gordon Brown’s measures to help families struggling with soaring fuel bills, secured after months of haggling with reluctant power companies, had a frosty reception from some quarters yesterday.

Help the Aged claimed they were ‘ half-baked’, while the unions – clamouring for a windfall tax – said they were ‘ridiculous’. Well, they would, wouldn’t they.

True, the measures will not cure everyone’s worries this winter. And, as Mr Brown said, people will still have to be frugal, closing the curtains and blocking drafts.

But the £910 million package is eminently sensible, as far as it goes. The most vulnerable are protected with an extra £16.50 a week, if there is a severe winter.

And, in recognition it is not just the less well-off that are struggling, there is an offer of 50 per cent off the cost of insulation for all households.

Isn’t it better to offer every family the chance to cut their bills permanently, by fitting better insulation, than to hand over a one-off voucher for £100, as was suggested?

Again, to persuade the big power firms to fund this deal, which is likely to dent their short-term future profits, is eminently sensible.

Given their track-record of greed, there is a danger they will seek to pass on the costs to customers.

But Mr Brown insists this should not happen and, provided this is the case, he has secured a good deal – for himself and the public.

Yes, there was a case for at least considering a windfall tax.

But, on balance, the Government is right to have avoided market-distorting intervention.

It may have been popular with voters, but risked doing long-term harm, driving big business from Britain’s shores.

Mr Brown can also take credit for facing down the resurgent unions, whose demands for a raid on energy firms’ profits smacked of the politics of envy.

After a string of policy disasters, the embattled PM deserves a small bouquet, rather than the all-too predictable brickbats hurled at him yesterday.

End this injustice

To prevent a cancer patient from paying their own money to buy a drug not available on the NHS is simply scandalous.

But that is precisely what our Soviet-style health service does, in the name of ‘equality’.

The NHS commissars say that allowing somebody to top-up their care with private treatments would be unfair on those who cannot afford to.

Worse – and we have seen shocking examples already – those who commit the heinous crime of trying to buy drugs not available on the NHS are told they will forfeit free care altogether.

What malign nonsense. Those who have spent years paying taxes, keeping the NHS afloat, have a right to spend their money however they see fit, particularly if it may prolong their life.

Demands for an end to this outrage have been growing.

Now Britain’s premier medical think-tank, the King’s Fund, describes the Government’s position as ‘untenable’.

Ministers, currently finalising a review of the rules, must listen – and end this affront to natural justice.

No more own goals

For three days, the Mail has campaigned vigorously for England’s away football fixtures to be shown on free-to-air television, and we welcome the news that a deal between Setanta, the Irish broadcaster which currently holds exclusive rights, and ITV may be in the offing.

Wednesday’s victory over Croatia was watched by a pitifully small audience on pay-per-view Setanta. And, for our national sport, loved by millions, that is not only unacceptable, it is a disgrace.

Football belongs to Britain, and politicians, broadcasters and regulators must work together to prevent such madness happening again.