A MUCH-HYPED government action plan to end the scandal of families too poor to heat their homes is doomed to failure, a damning report warns today.

The “Great British Refurb”, aimed at insulating every home by 2015, is “unambitious” and lacks practical detail on how it will be achieved, the all-party environment committee said.

It also said a key target to eradicate so-called “fuel poverty” among households with children, elderly people or the long-term sick by next year is certain to be missed.

The overall number living in fuel poverty has now reached 5.5m households because of higher fuel prices and the recession – and has been rising since 2003.

In many Merseyside constituencies, one-in-five families struggle to pay their heating bills, including in Walton (22.4%), Wavertree (21.4%), Birkenhead (21.3%), Riverside (21.2%), West Derby (20.8%) and Wallasey (20.8%).

Every winter across Britain, there are up to 40,000 “excess deaths” compared with the warmer summer months – a far worse record than other European countries.

The report demanded an urgent programme before next winter to begin transforming the energy efficiency of British homes and cut heating bills.

That programme should include taxing the annual £250 winter fuel payment for over-60s and scrapping it for higher-rate taxpayers to boost spending on the poorest homes.