Commons
Oral Questions
14 October 2025
Reducing Energy Bills
I welcome the new Ministers to their place—I look forward to working with them—and I congratulate the Secretary of State and the Minister for Energy on holding on to their posts, which we are glad to see.
One of the best ways to bring down household bills is to help homeowners and small businesses …
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
6 contributions
COP30: Food System Transformation
I beg to move,
That this House has considered COP30 and global food system transformation.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I appreciate the chance to have this debate, which is of critical importance, both globally and in our country, where the hottest summer since reco…
I thank my hon. Friend for that, and I applaud her constant advocacy in Parliament on behalf of farmers.
The second part of the debate is about the conference of the parties and how we can bring about legally binding obligations that translate into exactly the kind of measures my hon. Friend talked…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
16 September 2025
Points of Order
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. On 1 September, the hon. Member for Rutherglen (Michael Shanks), now Minister of State in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, issued a written statement on the contingent liabilities from the funded decommissioning programme and Government support packag…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 September 2025
2 contributions
Indefinite Leave to Remain
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I congratulate the hon. Member for South Norfolk (Ben Goldsborough) and all who have successfully brought this petition forward. I rise today, as many others have, in support of the petition calling for Hong Kong British national overseas v…
The hon. Member makes a really important point. Delaying their settled status would leave many of these people unprotected when travelling abroad and raise the stakes in terms of their own and their families’ security. Many families are already financially stretched and, as we have heard, that is of…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
16 July 2025
Engagements
Yet again, we are suffering record-breaking heatwaves and drought. That is worrying people in my constituency, which is both the fastest-growing and the most water-stressed area in the country. The proposed fens reservoir is important, but will provide water only for the already ambitious house buil…
Commons
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
Topical Questions
Across Europe, we have already seen 2,300 heatwave-related deaths—avoidable deaths—and the Met Office report says that things will just get worse. The Lib Dems and I have a really cool idea. Will the Secretary of State work with local authorities to open up public spaces with air conditioning, such …
Commons
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
Household Energy Bills
We welcomed the joint agreement signed in May between the UK and the EU, in which small steps were taken to address the impacts of the Conservatives’ botched Brexit deal on energy costs and bills. What further steps will the Secretary of State take to forge energy co-operation through a recoupling o…
Commons
Debate
10 July 2025
Electricity Market Review
I thank the Secretary of State for sharing his statement in advance. He is right: making the UK a clean energy superpower is the smartest and most strategic way to free ourselves from our dependence on expensive, volatile fossil fuels. However, as we have heard, accelerating the transition to renewa…
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
British National Overseas Visas: Settlement Rules
Will the Minister clear up, once and for all, the further confusion over the proposed changes to the settlement period from five to 10 years? Will she clarify for the BNO visa holders living in my constituency whether the changes will be applied retrospectively or only prospectively, and will she co…
Commons
Westminster Hall
1 July 2025
Business Energy Supply Billing: Regulation
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I join other Members in congratulating the hon. Member for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards) on securing the debate and on her fantastic laying out of the situation. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy: they are 99% of UK businesses and ov…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
30 June 2025
2 contributions
Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery
I, too, thank the Minister for advance notice of the statement today. Our thoughts are with the workers at the Prax Lindsey refinery who have heard this last-minute, shocking news today, which has put their futures and jobs on hold.
We understand that this is just one refinery within the Prax Group…
In conclusion, many thanks, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 June 2025
Geo-engineering and the Environment
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss.
It is important to set the debate and the e-petition in the context of the last couple of weeks. Last weekend saw another hottest day of the year on record, triggering an official heatwave and accompanied by an amber heat health warning, w…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 June 2025
Future of the Gas Grid
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. I am pleased to speak in this important and timely debate on the future of the gas grid. I thank the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for securing this increasingly urgent debate and for his expertise on the matter, and I wis…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 June 2025
3 contributions
Nuclear Power: Investment
We welcome the Government’s renewed focus on energy security through nuclear power as part of the energy mix. It is long overdue, after years of dither and delay from successive Conservative Governments. It has been 16 years since Sizewell C was first announced in 2009, and now, seven Prime Minister…
Will the hon. Member let me continue?
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
10 June 2025
Topical Questions
The North sea’s future lies in clean energy, but despite the UK’s billing as a wind superpower, we still import most of our wind turbine components while communities around the North sea are losing jobs. Trade unions and industry are united in calling for £1.1 billion a year to build up domestic ren…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
10 June 2025
Energy Efficiency
Warm wishes for your birthday, Mr Speaker—and I am going to talk about warmth, as you might expect. Over the last decade, we have seen so many households living in Dickensian conditions, with dark, damp and cold homes, and having to choose between heating and eating. With the warm homes plan widely …
Commons
Debate
9 June 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I declare my interest as co-chair of the all-party group on local nature recovery.
When the Government first introduced this Bill, they branded it a win-win. They said that we could build the homes and infrastructure that this country desperately needs and protect and restore nature. We have seen i…
I completely concur. We appreciate the work done by my hon. Friend and others in the Bill Committee, and by tabling numerous amendments at this stage to help the Government improve the Bill.
Why do we need more stringent regulations and demands on developers, rather than less? Why do we need eviden…
Commons
Oral Questions
Treasury
20 May 2025
2 contributions
Clean Energy Transition: Spending Review
1. What steps she is taking through the spending review to support the transition to clean energy.
Successive Governments have failed to deliver a fair energy transition for workers and communities. We have seen the devastating closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery, and now we are seeing uncertainty around the gas storage facility off the east coast. Just seven out of 87 offshore oil and gas co…
Commons
Westminster Hall
19 May 2025
Gender Self-identification
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for moving the motion and for her powerful speech. I also thank all the signatories to the petition. I want to add my voice to the calls for transgender people to be able to …
Commons
Debate
16 May 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My hon. Friend is right to point out that compassion and fairness for those who are terminally ill are rightly at the heart of the Bill. Does he agree with my constituents who would like to see it extended to those terminally ill with motor neurone disease and neurodegenerative disorders, to give th…
Commons
Debate
14 May 2025
2 contributions
Great British Energy Bill
I rise in strong support of Lords amendment 2B and the consequential amendment tabled by the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion). The Liberal Democrats welcome this key step by the Government towards preventing goods linked to Chinese slave labour from being part of our renewables businesses’…
I thank the hon. Member for his intervention.
We have to name the report “In Broad Daylight” from Sheffield Hallam University, which found that all solar industry-relevant polysilicon producers in the Uyghur region were either using state-sponsored labour transfers of Uyghurs or were sourcing from …