Stockton South MP Dari Taylor visited Albert Mayhew, of Yarm, to highlight the trouble pensioners have keeping their homes warm in winter.

Ms Taylor is one of 70 MPs throughout Britain who have joined the winter awareness campaign, run by national energy charity NEA.

Mr Mayhew told Ms Taylor how his home was kept warm by cavity wall insulation installed under the Government's Home Energy Efficiency scheme. Grants of up to £1,000 are available.

William Gillis, of the NEA, said: "We concentrate on the energy efficiency needs of people who still cannot afford to heat their homes adequately.

"I am grateful to Dari Taylor for helping us to bring attention to this problem."

Fuel poverty contributes to the deaths of tens of thousand people a year. In the UK last year, there were 50,000 more deaths in winter than summer, and 123 of these were in Stockton