Low income UK homes ‘should be given free heat pumps’ to meet climate targets

Advisers say government should cover cost of replacing gas boilers with pumps in more than 2m homes

More than 2 million low-income households should be given a free electric heat pump to replace their gas boiler if the UK hopes to meet its legally binding climate targets, according to the government's advisers.

Britain's official infrastructure tsars have called on the government to spend up to 4bn every year for the next 12 years to cover the full cost of heat pump installations, and support energy efficiency improvements, for 1.5 million households on lower incomes in England.