Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Lilley and John Bercow

Wednesday 5th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Justine Greening)]

In the week of international women’s day, I offer warm congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr Cash), whose International Development (Gender Equality) Bill completed its progress through Parliament yesterday. The Government have been proud to support that Bill. Since the last session of International Development questions I set out a new approach to economic development in a keynote speech at the London stock exchange. Yesterday, in a speech hosted by Plan UK I set out the UK’s determination to play our role in tackling early and forced marriage, alongside female genital mutilation. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It must be quite difficult for right hon. and hon. Members to hear the Secretary of State, and it is discourteous. Let us have some hush for the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr Lilley).

[Mr Lilley]

Will my right hon. Friend tell the House what she is doing to ensure that economic partnership agreements prioritise development, and that if developing countries do not meet the EU deadline of October this year, they will not lose preferential access to the EU market?

UK Nuclear Energy Programme

Debate between Lord Lilley and John Bercow

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Approximately 45 Members are seeking to catch my eye on this extremely important matter. I am keen to accommodate as many of them as possible, but if I am to do so, brevity will be of the essence. That can now be exemplified by a man of great experience and long service in the House of Commons: the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr Lilley).

[Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

I am grateful, Mr Speaker.

Can my right hon. Friend confirm that the reason we are dependent on foreign companies to build these nuclear power plants is that the last Labour Government sold off Westinghouse to the Japanese and then sold British Energy to the French when the current Leader of the Opposition was Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change?

Given that the one area in which we retain nuclear expertise is in building small nuclear generators, will my right hon. Friend look closely at the proposals put forward by the noble Lord Ridley for building small nuclear reactors in future, to provide electricity and possibly an export market as well?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Lilley and John Bercow

Thursday 31st January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. These are very important matters, but there are other important matters that we need to reach.

[Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

19. Whether his assessment of fracking in the US included any information on (a) people poisoned by water contamination and (b) buildings damaged by earth tremors as a result of fracking.

Business of the House

Debate between Lord Lilley and John Bercow

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

Will the Leader of the House grant us a debate as soon as possible on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in the light of its recent report suggesting that the extreme weather events we were previously promised may not occur for another two or three decades and the release of several thousand more e-mails from the East Anglia university climate research unit showing that many scientists are privately lukewarmists rather than alarmists about the climate but are afraid to say so in public? Secondly, the IPCC system is being systematically abused and Government officials have been urging scientists to come out with evidence biased in the direction of alarmism lest the Government appear foolish—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. This is an abuse. The right hon. Gentleman is an immensely senior Member. He had heard my exhortation to brevity and wilfully defied it. It really will not do.

Annual Energy Statement

Debate between Lord Lilley and John Bercow

Wednesday 23rd November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is notable interest in the statement, but I remind the House that today is an Opposition day, and that there are two well-subscribed debates to follow. I want the first of them to begin before too long. Brevity is essential from Members—led, I feel sure, by Mr Peter Lilley.

[Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend made the breathtaking claim that he intended to keep energy prices as low as possible. How does he square that with the Stern review, on which his policy to combat climate change is based, and which makes it clear that that policy can work only if energy prices are raised to include the external cost of global heating, and if the cost of hydrocarbon-based energy is also raised to make it more expensive than other forms of sustainable energy? In short, if his policy is not hurting, it is not working.

Economic Governance (EU)

Debate between Lord Lilley and John Bercow

Wednesday 27th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I would remind the House that if I am to accommodate a reasonable number of colleagues within the very limited time frame available, brevity in both questions and answers is essential.

[Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

Can the Minister confirm that even if the proposed treaty concerns only and exclusively the member states of the eurozone, it would still require the support of the British Government to go ahead? Can he assure me that that support will not be given without obtaining concessions in return, such as the return of powers to this country that were unnecessarily given? Can he assure me that we will not give that support without demanding a price? This is the ideal opportunity to obtain that price.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Lilley and John Bercow

Thursday 1st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am sorry, but I must tell the House that progress is simply too slow. We need snappier questions and snappier answers.

[Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend reassure the House that he will not be put off building nuclear power stations by exaggerated fears of the dangers of disposing of nuclear waste in one or two sites, especially as those who promote those fears seem to have no doubts about the problems of sequestering CO₂ from carbon storage and capture in thousands of sites for thousands of years?