MORE than one in four single parents in England are having to choose between eating and heating, government statistics on fuel poverty revealed today.

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) revealed that the number of households in fuel poverty in England increased for the third consecutive year in 2016, affecting about 2.55m households.

The latest figures showed that 26.4 per cent of lone parents were forced to bring their children up in fuel poverty in 2016, up from 23.6 per cent in 2015.

Overall, more than one in 10 households in England were stuck in fuel poverty in 2016.

Any household having higher-than-typical energy costs that would be left below the poverty line if it spent the required money to meet those costs is defined as being in fuel poverty.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey blasted the Tory government over yet another increase in the number of people suffering fuel poverty — the result, she said, of “rip-off prices, a broken energy system and a government that doesn’t care.”

The government’s fuel poverty report also showed that nearly one in five households living in the private rented sector were stuck in fuel poverty compared with just one in 13 of owner-occupied properties.

Private rented households also face almost double the fuel poverty gap of those living in local authority and housing association properties, £383 compared with £205.

Ms Long Bailey said the figures were a “national scandal” and said a future Labour government would “radically reform the market to ensure a fairer system for bill payers.”

“While energy bills continue to rise, the Conservatives’ energy price cap is still not in place and is not expected to be until the end of the year, over 18 months after the promise was made.”

She pledged Labour would “fix our broken energy market by insulating four million homes in our first parliament, saving households at least £270 per year,” as well as introducing an “emergency price cap” to keep average bills below £1,000 per year.