Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
7 January 2026
Engagements
Q11. I was very pleased to hear the Government’s latest announcement about the roll-out of the chickenpox vaccine. It comes in stark contrast to the vaccine conspiracy theories being peddled by Reform. Does my right hon. Friend agree that only with a Labour Government is healthcare in this country s…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
6 January 2026
Energy Transition
Happy new year, Mr Speaker.
I hope that the Minister, in his new year’s resolutions, will commit to building the case for the energy transition through lower consumer bills, secure jobs, public health improvements through reduced emissions, and indeed energy security. Does he agree that those who o…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
17 December 2025
INEOS Chemicals: Grangemouth
I very much welcome the protection of 500 jobs at Grangemouth and the commitment to making the most of the energy transition through this investment in carbon capture and storage, in components for wind turbines and indeed in nuclear power plants, as the Minister mentioned in his statement. I turn t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
11 December 2025
2 contributions
Energy Costs
5. What steps his Department is taking to support businesses with energy costs.
Reducing costs by £40 per megawatt-hour for 7,000 manufacturing businesses is welcome, as is the news in the Budget of changes to the British industry supercharger scheme. However, there are tens—if not hundreds—of thousands of other manufacturing businesses facing some of the highest electricity pr…
Commons
Debate
26 November 2025
4 contributions
Budget Resolutions
Context is everything, and the context for this Budget can be summed up in three letters: ABT. It stands for “anyone but the Tories”, or “austerity, Brexit and Truss”. Both explain the composition of the House of Commons; it is a result of the damage done by those things. Their combined impact is th…
My hon. Friend is right. The warm homes plan will help those who are in fuel poverty the most. We are talking about up to £500 for a combination of insulation and solar and battery installation. Closing the gap between electricity and gas prices, which is what the money off bills will partly do, wil…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
COP30
My right hon. Friend rightly reminded us of the progress that was made at COP. The recommitment to limiting global warming to no more than 1.5° is hugely important. He was honest in saying that we did not get everything we wanted, and that is sensible. However, he also reminded us of the absolute se…
Commons
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
New Hospital Programme
Rowan View mental health hospital at Maghull health park in my constituency is benefiting from lower costs from the installation of solar panels from GB Energy. May I encourage the Minister to support Maghull health park’s bid for an innovation and research facility so that we can address the Govern…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
24 November 2025
Critical Minerals Strategy
The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee has heard evidence that we need these critical minerals for our energy future. That is absolutely true, so the 10% from production and the 20% from recycling are key steps along that road. Can I ask the Minister about no more than 60% coming from one countr…
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
3 contributions
Energy
The right hon. Lady was kind enough to go through her plan with me. I will be honest: I think there is merit in discussing some of the proposals— [ Interruption. ] No, it is not what Opposition Members think. There is merit in discussing some of the proposals on a cross-party basis, and I am sure th…
The Conservatives also privatised the national grid. We were warned at the time, in 1989, that that would not lead to massive investment from the private sector, and we are now living with the consequences of that lack of investment over something like 40 years. Does my hon. Friend agree that that C…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Employer National Insurance Contributions: Business Impact
The Conservative party gave us austerity, Brexit and Liz Truss, including high interest rates and high inflation. This Government, so far, have delivered the highest growth in the G7, five interest rate cuts and record high levels of investment. Is it not the truth that the Conservative party, over …
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
22 October 2025
Engagements
Q5. Mental ill health affects one in four of us, and it costs this country up to £300 billion a year, so will the Prime Minister join me in thanking the staff at Maghull health park, who do a brilliant job in looking after those suffering from mental ill health? Will he wish them well with their pla…
Commons
Oral Questions
14 October 2025
Net Zero: Evidence-based Policy
Lord Stern reminded us just today that
“Investment in climate action is the…growth story of the 21st century,”
while expecting growth from fossil fuels is
“futile because the damage it causes ends in self-destruction.”
The Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed the same thing in the summer, …
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
10 September 2025
Engagements
Q7. Let’s talk about fracking. It contaminates the water table, it causes air pollution and the test drilling in Lancashire led to earthquakes. Will the Prime Minister stand up to the climate deniers? Will he ban fracking once and for all? Does he agree that those who are backing it are supporting f…
Commons
Proceedings
9 September 2025
Jaguar Land Rover Cyber-attack
We have heard from my hon. Friends and the Minister how wide the impact of the cyber-attack has been, across the economy. Hon. Members have mentioned the national security threat. The Minister gave evidence to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy in his previous role, and spoke abou…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
9 September 2025
Government Debt Interest Payments
Both the Conservatives and Reform want to repeat the medicine that Liz Truss inflicted on this country, pushing interest rates and mortgages through the roof. Is not the contrast that this Government have provided stability and confidence; that, as a result, we have record levels of private investme…
Commons
Proceedings
22 July 2025
Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery
The Minister is absolutely right—so was the shadow Minister—to focus on the jobs and the communities affected by the worrying news coming from Lindsey. He was also right to say that the problems are the result of shockingly bad management. My Select Committee will look at the future of refining in t…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Independent Water Commission
My constituents will be very pleased with what the Government have announced today, following 14 years of seeing increases in the dumping of sewage on the beaches, and in the rivers, in my constituency. I could not help but notice that yesterday the leader of Reform, in his answer to every question,…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
17 July 2025
SME Operating Costs
SME manufacturers are a key part of the planned renaissance in manufacturing in this country. Some of them are raising concerns about a lack of involvement in the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council. Will the Minister confirm that they are very much involved and have an important role to play in de…
Commons
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
Electricity Grid Capacity
The challenges of increasing electricity grid capacity include the ability to get planning consent and to achieve grid connections, as the Minister knows. In the report that the Select Committee published last week, we referred to the problem of inconsistency in some of the guidance and energy plans…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 July 2025
State of Climate and Nature
Select Committees look at the evidence, follow the evidence and make recommendations on the basis of the evidence. Today, we have heard from the Secretary of State the evidence from the Met Office about the seriousness of the threat, the reality of the nature of the crisis and the fact that that wil…
Commons
Proceedings
10 July 2025
8 contributions
Energy Planning
It gives me great pleasure to present our Committee’s first report of this Session, “Gridlock or growth? Avoiding energy planning chaos”. I think it follows on very nicely from the statement we have just heard from the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, especially given some of the…
I thank the hon. Lady for her question and for her service on the Committee—her contribution is always valuable in our discussions and in the questions we put to our witnesses. She rightly raises nature mitigations, which we looked at in our inquiry. As I mentioned in my statement, we heard that all…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
10 July 2025
Electricity Market Review
I am sure the Secretary of State will not be surprised to hear me say that I very much welcome what he has announced. He set out three priorities: fairness, lower bills—including and especially in industry and business, where my Committee heard as recently as yesterday that energy bills are causing …
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
9 July 2025
Engagements
Q5. I am proud that the Labour Government are banning fire and rehire. I am proud that we are addressing the abusive use of zero-hours contracts and improving protections at work, particularly against unfair dismissal. Reform and its Tory friends voted against Labour’s workplace protections. [ Inter…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 July 2025
Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review
It beggars belief that no action was taken after the risks were identified in 2018 at the North Hyde substation. The NESO report highlights a lack of information-sharing internally at National Grid and externally between organisations. It draws attention to the energy companies not knowing that Heat…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
1 July 2025
Employer National Insurance Contributions
The Chancellor is quite right to mention that business confidence is at a nine-year high. Does that not go to show that not only were the announcements in the spending review right for business, but her emphasis on stability and certainty in the economy is exactly what is needed? Moreover, it is in …