Oral Answers to Questions

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mary Kelly Foy]

This Government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower is not only delivering against climate targets, but delivering jobs and investment in places like Durham and the wider north-east, where around 500 renewable energy companies already employ around 17,000 people in good-quality jobs—a figure that is set to rise to 24,000. Those who take a stand against climate action would put that growth at risk. Does the Secretary of State share my concerns that the fearmongering by some in this House about the cost and safety of renewables is not only misguided, but fundamentally against our national interests, and will he work with local teams to provide suitable knowledge and education, as suggested by Retrofit Reimagined?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think the Secretary of State has got it.

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Unfortunately, the Climate Change Act 2008 is now an issue that divides this House. I think Rain Newton-Smith, the director general of the CBI, put it very well recently when she said,

“The Climate Act has been the bedrock for investment flowing into the UK.”

Ripping up the framework that has given investors confidence that the UK is serious about sustainable growth through a low-carbon future would damage our economy. Seeking to abolish the Climate Change Act is not just a betrayal of young people—it is anti-jobs and anti-investment.

[Ed Miliband]

I will give the hon. Gentleman the answer I gave him last time. Action by the UK makes a difference here. Of course, we are 1% of global emissions, but our action means that other countries act. Where is the evidence for that? Well, it actually happened. When the Climate Change Act passed, 60 other countries passed their own versions of it. Net zero was signed into law in this country, and now 80% of global GDP is covered by net zero. That is the difference the UK makes. I believe in Britain; the hon. Gentleman does not.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

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, referring to the huge cost of not taking climate action. Is it not the truth that the energy transition is essential, not only to address climate action, but to exactly how we deliver economic success?

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[Martin McCluskey]

Hundreds of thousands of jobs will come from the clean power revolution. That is why it is so important that we push ahead with it and do not adopt the tactics of the Conservative party, or their friends on the Back Benches. We need to push ahead with clean power in order to unlock those hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Claire Coutinho (East Surrey) (Con)]

I welcome the new Ministers to the Front Bench. On the first day of recess, away from scrutiny, the Labour party published the prices for its allocation round 7 of the renewables auction. Labour used to say that renewables were nine times cheaper, but the prices that the Secretary of State has said he is willing to pay are 40% higher than the current cost of electricity—they are the highest prices in a decade—and he has extended the contract length to 20 years. Those are not just the prices that we will be paying; they are the prices that our children will be paying. Will the Minister explain how locking us into higher prices for longer will cut bills by £300?

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[Chris McDonald]

The hon. Member said that thousands and thousands of jobs are at risk in this country; they are at risk from the climate-denying policies of Reform. The Institution of Chemical Engineers reported last week that there are 800,000 jobs in the green economy in this country—thousands and thousands in the constituencies of every single Member in this House—and the hon. Member’s party is putting that investment at risk.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)]

How many jobs have to be sacrificed on the altar of this Secretary of State’s vainglorious eco-zealotry before the Government acknowledge the utter destruction of the UK’s industrial base that is being wreaked by policies driven by an out-of-touch green lobby that has captured what is laughably still called the Department for Energy Security?

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[Michael Shanks]

I could not have organised that better if I had tried: immediately after I said, “If you are against grid infrastructure, you are against economic growth”, up pops the hon. Gentleman to make exactly that point. His party is against building the future of this country, and we are not going to follow that path at all. Decades of under-investment have led to the issues we face today. They hold back economic growth across the country. This infrastructure has to be built somewhere. We are determined that communities benefit from that by introducing what the previous Government failed to do: community benefits for the communities who are hosting the infrastructure.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Greg Smith (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)]

On grid infrastructure, the Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Ming Yang has said that it is looking to set up a wind turbine factory in Scotland. Our security services have warned us about the risks of Chinese state-sponsored hackers trying to infiltrate and destroy energy systems in the west, and hidden kill switches have been found in Chinese solar installation technology in the United States. Can the Minister provide the House with a very clear assurance that neither Ming Yang nor the Chinese state will be able to remotely control our energy infrastructure—yes or no?

[Carla Denyer (Bristol Central) (Green)]

10. What steps he is taking to ensure the forthcoming carbon budget delivery plan includes measures to financially support people on low and middle incomes.

[Mr Speaker]

Welcome, Minister.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Katie White)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the hon. Lady for her continued advocacy on this agenda. I have enjoyed working with her from the Back Benches and hope to continue to do so in this new post. I am excited to share with her and the whole House the carbon budget growth and delivery plan later this month. What I can say now is that ensuring that low and middle-income families can benefit from the energy transition is absolutely central to our mission. It is why we are rolling out the biggest home upgrade scheme in a generation and why we are moving away from expensive fossil fuels towards cheap, clean British power in homes and communities across our country.

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[Martin McCluskey]

I agree with my hon. Friend. Hundreds of thousands of jobs will come as a result of our sprint to clean power by 2030, not just in his constituency but across the entire country. What will not take us to those hundreds of thousands of jobs is the Conservative party abandoning its commitment to the Climate Change Act 2008. From hug a husky to burning the Climate Change Act—that is not the transition that we expected.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat party.

[Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

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 make their properties cheaper to warm and to power. The Liberal Democrats have put forward a plan to do that by introducing a windfall tax on the big banks, which have seen billions of pounds in unexpected profits as a result of the quantitative easing programme by the Bank of England more than a decade ago. Does the Secretary of State agree with the Liberal Democrats that we should instead use those excess profits to fund green affordable loans of up to £20,000 for households and up to £50,000 for businesses and community groups, and cut people’s power bills for good?

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[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend raises the important issue of tidal energy. I am very aware of the assessment that NESO is conducting—obviously, our Department is working with it on that assessment. The Minister for Energy chairs the marine energy taskforce, and is happy to meet my hon. Friend.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Claire Coutinho (East Surrey) (Con)]

The carbon tax on electricity pushes up the cost of gas, wind, solar and nuclear in this country. It does not need to be there—the Secretary of State could axe the carbon tax tomorrow to instantly cut bills for every single family in this country. Why will he not?

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[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point, and not only about what the mayor has done and the effects it has had on the health of Londoners. There is a wider point here, which is too often overlooked, about what the shift to renewables and away from fossil fuels can do to help save lives and tackle air pollution.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Ed Miliband]

I will give the answer that was also given by the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West (Katie White), which is that the Prime Minister’s diary is above my pay grade. We will be playing a very active part at COP30. The wider point that the hon. Lady makes about tipping points and the recent report is important. Anyone who looks at that report will see where the science is taking us, and any political party in this House that sees that as a reason to then abandon the Climate Change Act 2008, as the Leader of the Opposition has done, is anti-science and anti-young people. It is a betrayal of the future.

[Mr Speaker]

Come on, Secretary of State, do you not want your own Back Benchers to ask questions?

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

T3. First, we had the VW scandal and now we have Dieselgate 2, with multiple manufacturers accused of faking it and emissions up to 30 times the legal limit. Can Ministers update us on the Department for Transport’s inquiry and promise swift action when it is out?

[Dr Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath) (LD)]

T4.  According to the National Audit Office, some 98% of the 23,000 homes fitted with external wall insulation under Government schemes in recent years now need urgent repairs to correct faults that lead directly to damp and mould. What plans does the Secretary of State have to remediate those affected properties, and what does he have to say to the 3,000 residents of Surrey Heath living today in fuel poverty to give them confidence—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Climate change will have happened before you conclude.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)]

Let me be absolutely clear: no family should ever have had to go through this. It happened because of the systematic failings of the system put in place by the previous Government, and we are cleaning up their mess. We will do that at no cost to consumers, and I am happy to meet the hon. Member to discuss any cases that he might have in his constituency.