REGARDING your article that York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation warns that millions of households face hardship amid the cost of living crisis (The Yorkshire Post, January 18), as Metro Mayors from across the country, we are urgently calling on the Government to support a Great Homes Upgrade.

Currently there are nearly 19 million homes in the UK in need of upgrading: they are draughty, cold and rely on fossil fuels for heating. As leaders who work with our local communities, we see the impact of this every day, in the form of poor health and fuel poverty.

With the rise in energy prices, this winter will be tougher than ever for many families. As Mayors, we do what we can to help our constituents – but we need government support to tackle this issue in the longer term.

Left to right: Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin, Mayor of North of Tyne Jamie Driscoll, Acting Chair Councillor Louise Gittins Cheshire West and Chester, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, Mayor of Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram and Mayor of South Yorkshire Dan Jarvis, outside Leeds Railway Station. Picture: Danny Lawson/PA.

We are calling for a national mission to upgrade our homes so that they no longer leak heat or rely on polluting fossil fuels. This would not only create hundreds of thousands of secure, well-paid, long-term jobs, but would put the country firmly on the path to a net-zero carbon emissions economy.

We are ready and waiting to deliver this plan – but we need the government to back us, and invest in a proper national retrofitting programme.

Sixty-five per cent of people in the UK support large-scale government investment in a national retrofitting taskforce. The Government has the opportunity back a popular policy that will make a tangible difference to people’s lives and genuinely support ‘levelling up’.

The Great Homes Upgrade is a package of measures to put the UK on a rapid and credible pathway to retrofitting seven million homes by 2025 and almost 19m by 2030. Measures include £11.7bn of government investment, a new national retrofit taskforce, tax reform and stronger building regulations.

Everyone deserves to live in a warm, comfortable home which doesn’t pollute the planet. As Mayors we are ready to do our part, but we need the Government to come on board.

Upgrading homes can help level up Yorkshire and the North - Yorkshire Post Letters