This is a missed opportunity to save energy, create jobs and most important of all save lives

Martyn Williams, Friends of the Earth

Ministers have pledged to spend �1.5bn a year on the Fuel Poverty Strategy which aims to eliminate all such deaths by 2010.

Studies suggest that as many as 50,000 elderly people die in Britain each winter because they cannot afford to turn on the heating.

The Liberal Democrats have accused ministers of "fiddling the figures" and say the plan will not bring help to everyone who needs it.

Three million homes

The government is planning to target three million households as part of the strategy.

Some campaigners say the number needing help is more than 5m.

The scheme aims to identify pensioners and other groups without adequate heating, to ensure they are paying the best price for their gas and electricity and to improve home insulation.

Launching the strategy in London, Environment Minister Michael Meacher said: "We are declaring war on fuel poverty.

"It is a scandal, 100 years since Victorian times, that millions of UK residents still risk illness from living in cold, expensive-to-heat homes.

"Our first priority is to end the blight of fuel poverty among the vulnerable by 2010. The work starts now."

Energy Minister Peter Hain added: "We will keep up the pressure to drive energy prices down.

We also need to identify those who need help most and to make sure that they get it."

The government has set targets to remove 800,000 private homes from fuel poverty by 2004.

Vulnerable people

Campaigners say households are experiencing fuel poverty when more than 10% of disposable income has to be spent on energy in order to maintain satisfactory heating.

The government calculates that around 4.5m UK households are fuel-poor, of which some 3m include particularly vulnerable people.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Don Foster accused the government of underplaying the extent of the problem by at least 1m.

"The government is fiddling the figures," he said.

"Britain has more winter deaths than colder countries like Sweden or Denmark, but the government has dragged its feet on tackling fuel poverty."

Mr Meacher said work on the strategy would start immediately

Martyn Williams, of Friends of the Earth, criticised the strategy.

"It looks like the Treasury has forced ministers to do the bare minimum they can get away with but this will leave an awful lot of people still shivering in winter.

"This is a missed opportunity to save energy, create jobs and most important of all, save lives."

A spokeswoman for Age Concern welcomed the strategy but said more needed to be done.

"Part of the solution must be to increase the basic state pension to a more adequate level so that older people can afford to heat their homes."

She added: "As the poorest older people are often living in the poorest housing a long-term strategy to improve the housing stock they occupy is also essential."

Energy industry regulator Ofgem welcomed the initiative, and vowed to combat fuel poverty by trying to keep prices down.

The National Energy Action charity (NEA), said they were "delighted" with the government's plan.

NEA Director William Gillis said: "Thanks to this strategy, affordable warmth is closer than ever for millions of UK households in fuel poverty."