A VIGIL to mourn the 4,706 people who died last year for lack of cash to heat their homes — 521 of them in Scotland — took place in Glasgow on Saturday.

With energy regulator Ofgem’s moratorium on the forced installation of prepayment meters due to end on Wednesday, vigil organisers Fuel Poverty Action Glasgow (FPAG) warned that the imposition of the meters and the higher tariffs that come with them are leading to deaths.

FPAG pointed to recent research by the Warm this Winter coalition showing that a staggering one in three households on the meters has a cold and damp home. Such living conditions are directly linked to long-term illness and — as the vigil highlighted — premature death.