Ben Lake
Main Page: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)Department Debates - View all Ben Lake's debates with the HM Treasury
(1 day, 9 hours ago)
Commons ChamberI am pleased that since I became Chancellor, the Bank of England has cut interest rates six times, and we have been able to take £150 off energy bills and freeze prescription charges and rail fares. My hon. Friend’s constituency contains Rolls-Royce, which will benefit from small modular reactors and also from the increased defence spending that is already going in.
Some 72% of households in my constituency have no connection to the mains gas grid. For those who filled their tanks over the weekend, the consequences of the Iran crisis have become very real, and those who are still to do so are anxious to learn when any potential support that may be agreed on Wednesday will be provided.
I recognise that there are significant challenges in some areas of Wales, as indeed there are in Northern Ireland, and I urge the hon. Gentleman to attend the meeting with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury. We have already had representations over the weekend about what is needed, and I want Members in all parties to be able to contribute to that, but the best way to reduce prices is to get that oil and gas flowing again, which is why it is so important to secure not only a military solution to get the strait of Hormuz open but an insurance solution, and I am working closely on that at the moment.