Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Philip Hollobone and Greg Hands

Thursday 25th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: the Welsh Labour Government need to start supporting businesses and to maintain the 75% relief rate, as we are in England. The Welsh Government have also cut the budget of Business Wales from £26.6 million to £21 million. Figures from UKHospitality show that the average pub in Wales will be £6,800 worse off as a result, compared with England; for the average restaurant, that figure will be £12,000; and for the average hotel, it will be £20,000. I do not know who will be in charge of Labour in Wales, but it is about time that it started to back Welsh business, as the UK Government do.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

8. What recent steps her Department has taken to help increase foreign direct investment into north Northamptonshire.

Energy Price Cap: Residential Buildings with Communal Heating Systems

Debate between Philip Hollobone and Greg Hands

Wednesday 20th April 2022 Westminster Hall

[Greg Hands]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, and I am very happy to look into that. I will speak with my ministerial colleague Lord Callanan, and perhaps he or I will write to the hon. Gentleman about what has been going on with standing charges on heat networks. It is a fair question and I will get back to him on it.

To conclude, I reiterate the Government’s commitment, first, to providing short-term support to those struggling with energy prices and, secondly, to making the necessary long-term changes to improve the heat networks market and make the UK energy-independent at the same time. The heat networks market is a key sector for our green ambitions, but it must also deliver for consumers daily, so we will continue to ensure that prices are as fair as possible.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

I call Dame Meg Hillier to sum up the debate.

Storm Arwen: Power Outages

Debate between Philip Hollobone and Greg Hands

Monday 6th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

Of course we will be working, particularly with local resilience fora. The Secretary of State had a series of meetings on calls with local resilience fora through last week, learning and assessing at first hand what their needs are. If Storm Barra is of a similar magnitude or even anywhere close, I would expect that process to continue. With climate change, we can expect the frequency of such events to increase, and we need to make sure that local resilience fora are ready to meet those challenges.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

May I say very firmly to the Minister that it is simply unacceptable for customers to have to wait for up to three months for compensation payments? This is an accounting function—a billing function. It is easy to press the right button and get the compensation of £140 a day to these poor people before Christmas.

[Greg Hands]

I stress that I am not apologising on behalf of the companies, but it is “up to three months”; I hope that it will be a lot quicker. Of course the Secretary of State and I will engage with the distribution network operators to make sure that it is done as quickly as possible. Ofgem is engaging with them as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Philip Hollobone and Greg Hands

Tuesday 21st September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

The hon. Gentleman has managed to pack a lot into that question. Let me try to answer it in three ways. First, when it comes to the heat and buildings strategy, he will just have to wait until we publish it. We are doing the right thing. Secondly, when it comes to energy price rises, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State pointed out at great length the action we are taking to protect customers, including vulnerable customers, with the rest of the support that the Government provide. Thirdly, when it comes to the Climate Change Committee, we have done very well on achieving, for example, last year’s recommendations. Actually we have achieved in full or in part 40 of the Committee’s 92 recommendations last year; 32 are already on their way. We are looking forward to responding as well to this year’s recommendations.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

The Kettering constituency generates enough wind power to power all local homes, but if we are to meet our net zero target by 2050, we need to develop more offshore wind power. Can the Energy Minister confirm that we are on track to increase the capacity of offshore wind from 30 GW to 40 GW by 2030?

[Greg Hands]

I always call my hon. Friend Mr Kettering, Mr Speaker, as he has been a councillor there for a long time and the Member of Parliament representing Kettering so diligently and astutely in this House. He is right: the UK currently has 10 GW of offshore wind capacity, which is around a third of the world’s total. We are looking to grow that to 40 GW by the year 2030.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Philip Hollobone and Greg Hands

Thursday 10th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I am not sure that the hon. Gentleman has been listening carefully enough to what I have been saying to him about the SNP and trade deals. It is not just Westminster trade deals that he and his colleagues have rejected; they have even rejected the trade deals negotiated previously by the European Union. He has pledged to rejoin the EU, in which case Scotland would become immediately subject to those trade deals. He also wishes to rejoin the common fisheries policy, which would be completely against the interest of fishers right across Scotland.

The SNP has never supported any trade deal. It has been against the Canada and South Africa deals, and it has not supported the Japan or Singapore deals. It is simply anti-business, anti-trade and against the interests of the Scotch whisky industry and of Scottish fishers.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

What progress she has made on negotiating free trade agreements with (a) the US, (b) Canada and (c) New Zealand.

CPTPP

Debate between Philip Hollobone and Greg Hands

Wednesday 21st April 2021 Westminster Hall

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

Minister, you have three minutes.

[Greg Hands]

Thank you, Mr Hollobone. I will not need three minutes, but I will answer my hon. Friend’s excellent intervention. I am always shocked by the insular nature of the SNP’s approach to trade and the fact that, by the look if things, it does not see any of the advantages of any trade agreements with anyone, but particularly with the far east. The potential for growth for Scottish produce, in particular, in the far east is huge—not just whisky, but also Scottish seafood produce and so on—but the SNP failed at each available opportunity, even when we were members of the European Union, to support any of those trade deals.

I go around the world battering down barriers, particularly to Scotch and Irish whiskey. I have been in Peru and engaged on its metal test. I have been in Taiwan and engaged on its lack of requirement for a lot code on bottles, which incites the counterfeiting of alcohol, and so on. We as the UK Government engage all the time on behalf of Scottish goods and services exports right the way around the world, and we make sure that Scotland’s voice is heard around the world and Scottish exports are boosted.

We have been consistently clear that the terms of UK accession to CPTPP must be right for British companies, right for British consumers and right for British farmers. We will negotiate firmly but fairly, and our red lines are well known. The NHS remains off the table, as do our world-class standards, from food and animal welfare to the environment—a data protection point brilliantly raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn (Virginia Crosbie).

Accession to CPTPP gives the UK the ability to foster stronger diplomatic and trading links with nations in the Indo-Pacific region, which is at the vanguard of change in the global economy and will be the engine of growth for decades to come. Joining this agreement will help us to harness the export and investment opportunities that lie before us as the world resets, recovers and returns to growth in the wake of the pandemic, and as we build back better, greener and more sustainably.

I hope my remarks have given a flavour of the vast potential that our membership of the CPTPP promises to bestow during this exciting time; its geostrategic importance, which was raised by my hon. Friends the Members for Wycombe and for Gloucester and others; the Indo-Pacific tilt, and the fact that we are doing this with some of our best friends; and the huge markets that are involved, with great potential. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe again for securing this invaluable debate.