I HOPE that George Osborne will be shown today’s front page article ("Deaths in winter hit a 15-year high due to cold homes", The Herald, October 21).

It is a scandal that he and the new Energy Secretary, Amber Rudd, have reneged on his previous budget promise to remove the unfair surcharges on electricity bills in the Hydro half of Scotland.

There is still a long way to go to improve the huge number of hard-to-insulate homes, but one thing that we cannot change is the colder and windier climate in the north and west of Britain. Householders, hospitals, schools and businesses deserve acceptable warmth wherever they are. This seems to be a concept which the present Government in Westminster is unable, or unwilling, to grasp.

RJ Ardern,

26A Southside Road, Inverness.