Damian Hinds MP: Climate Timeline

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Damian Hinds's Climate-related Tweets, Speeches & Votes

We've found the following climate-related tweets, speeches & votes by Damian Hinds

• 11 Nov 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  Rural Britain is different. The rural economy is different, quality-of-life issues are different, the profile of crime is different—almost everything is different. In some ways it is better—we have somewhat better air quality, and we spend less time sitting in traffic—but there are also many challenges. The sheer distances involved affect so many things, from people’s ability to access regular specialist healthcare treatment to their ability to get the right T-levels placement for their career. That, in turn, has an impact on health inequalities and social mobility. The costs of provision mean that many of our constituents are off mains drainage, and many more again are off the grid. That has implications for their costs and, indeed, for decarbonisation.

  The agricultural property relief and business property relief changes will cut right into this asset. I have a constituency example, a 50-acre farm with an estimated farm value of £5.5 million, but the profit from it is only £19,000 per year. In the event of the demise of the parents, the liability could be £900,000, and there is no way with a return on total capital of 0.35% that they can do anything other than sell it. That matters not just to that family but to all of us. First, there is the concern that larger businesses will come along and buy up these family farms, and they are not necessarily buying them to plant crops or rear livestock; they may use them for renewable energy projects or carbon credit use, and that will mean less food production. Secondly, being aware that a tax is coming upon death, the current generation farming the land will be disincentivised from investing in the farm, knowing the return effectively will be lower. For those two reasons, it does not just matter to those families; it matters to every single one of us in this Chamber and every single one of us in this country, and I ask the Minister to please think again.

  Full debate: Rural Affairs

• 29 Feb 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  Particularly in areas of even lower unemployment, however, skills matching becomes vital for the local economy. I also join my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough in congratulating both Harrogate College and the Luminate Education Group on their work on the renewable energy skills hub. That is a great example of colleges being future-looking, forward-looking and innovative, making sure we are equipped with the skills for the future and creating facilities that contribute to that.

  Full debate: Colleges Week

• 20 Sep 2023: Tweet

  RT @RishiSunak: This important thread shows we’re so far ahead of every other country in the world on Net Zero. So how can it be right tha… [Source]

• 20 Sep 2023: Tweet

  RT @RishiSunak: We will still meet our international commitments and hit Net Zero by 2050. Our new approach will embrace with even greater… [Source]

• 20 Sep 2023: Tweet

  RT @RishiSunak: We're changing the way we reach Net Zero by 2050 to ease the burden on working people. Our new approach will be pragmatic,… [Source]

• 19 Oct 2022: Vote

  Ban on Fracking for Shale Gas Bill - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 13 Dec 2021: Vote

  Subsidy Control Bill — Schedule 1 - The subsidy control principles - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 15 Nov 2021: Tweet

  RT @10DowningStreet: .@COP26 has shown us that we can: ⛽ end our reliance on coal and fossil fuels ???? put the brakes on runaway climate… [Source]

• 01 Nov 2021: Tweet

  RT @10DowningStreet: Let's make this the moment when we began irrefutably to turn the tide and to begin the fightback against climate chang… [Source]

• 01 Nov 2021: Tweet

  RT @10DowningStreet: For the next two days, Prime Minister @BorisJohnson will host the World Leaders Summit @COP26, a chance for over 120 l… [Source]

• 13 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @EastHantsDC: Hundreds of people keen to reduce their environmental impact attended our COP26 East Hampshire event last week. The event… [Source]

• 07 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @iredgb: We'll be at COP26 East Hampshire with @EastHantsDC tomorrow to talk disruptive technologies, sustainability and reducing carbo… [Source]

• 07 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @EastHantsDC: Look out for a specially-recorded video address from Lord Deben, the Chairman of @theCCCuk, at 3.40pm. A business-focussed… [Source]

• 07 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @EastHantsDC: Can't make it to COP26 East Hampshire? You can watch the whole event through a livestream on our YouTube channel. The str… [Source]

• 06 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @EastHantsDC: Improving your home's energy efficiency is a great way to reduce your impact on climate change. Find out about how the @Su… [Source]

• 04 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @COP26: Want to know how to get involved in #COP26 if you can't be in Glasgow? Our @YouTube channel is the virtual home of Green Zone:… [Source]

• 01 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @10DowningStreet: There’s one month to go until @COP26 begins in Glasgow. Our goal: for every country to follow the lead of the UK and… [Source]

• 30 Sep 2021: Tweet

  .#EastHantsBusiness please join @enterprisem3 @BusinessEH @EastHantsDC for COP26 East Hampshire, Friday 8th Oct, Alton Maltings. From 2pm, with ‘Business Section’ for local firms at 6pm [Source]

• 30 Sep 2021: Tweet

  Decarbonisation—a big deal for small business… ???? for your P&L - consumers value it, & efficiency can cut cost ????‍???? to get the best PEOPLE - employees care about carbon ???? as PARTNERS look at supply chain emissions too ???? to PROTECT our planet (which is everyone’s business) #COPEH [Source]

• 16 Sep 2021: Tweet

  RT @EastHantsDC: Come and discover what’s already happening to reduce climate change in East Hampshire – and find out how you can play your… [Source]

• 13 Sep 2021: Tweet

  RT @EastHantsDC: .@lorddeben, the Chairman of @theCCCuk and former UK Environment Secretary, will be delivering the keynote speech at East… [Source]

• 13 Sep 2021: Tweet

  RT @COP26: "We cannot achieve the scale of changes needed at the expense of the poorest nations and people" With the @UN General Assembly… [Source]

• 08 Sep 2021: Tweet

  RT @EastHantsDC: In the spirit of COP26, we will be hosting our own climate conference, in partnership with @DamianHinds MP. For anyone ke… [Source]

• 07 Jun 2021: Vote

  Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill — New Clause 1 - Human Rights Abuses - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 26 May 2021: Vote

  Environment Bill — New Clause 24 - Prohibition on burning of peat in upland areas - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 20 May 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  The cost of the decant is one thing. A much bigger consideration is the cost of the project itself—the thing we are decanting for. Here, again, there are choices, trade-offs and compromises. As my right hon. Friend said, it is a question of priorities. This project is called restoration and renewal, and clearly there is a balance between those two things. We must restore, but how much renewal is right for taxpayer value in aspects such as visitor access or the education function? In the approach towards the full business case, the programme will be working up a bare minimum option—what is essential to arrest the decay of the buildings—but also conducting value analysis in 14 categories, from logistics operations to environmental and net zero aims to visitor facilities, to see where it may make sense from a value perspective to go beyond that minimum.

  Full debate: Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster

• 12 May 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  There is so much change going on in the world, with, for instance, robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and voice computing. Any one of these things on their own could constitute an industrial revolution, but right now they are all happening together, and on top of that we have the opportunities and changes that come from leaving the European Union, what we have to do around the net-zero ambition and then of course the new challenges that we face as a result of this pandemic.

  Full debate: Better Jobs and a Fair Deal at Work

• 22 Apr 2021: Tweet

  RT @Conservatives: We are taking action to tackle climate change: ???? @BorisJohnson's 10 point plan with £12 billion to invest in green tech… [Source]

• 03 Mar 2021: Tweet

  RT @NFUtweets: The announcement of a UK Infrastructure Bank financing green investment can help farms transition to #NetZero2040 while deli… [Source]

• 25 Jan 2021: Tweet

  RT @COP26: ???? We must leave no one behind… ...in the fight against #ClimateChange ???? Don't miss UK PM @BorisJohnson, #COP26 President @Alok… [Source]

• 21 Jan 2021: Tweet

  RT @AlokSharma_RDG: Join us at #COP26! ???? Applications opened today for people and organisations to help shape #ClimateAction at the summit… [Source]

• 13 Jan 2021: Vote

  Financial Services Bill — Schedule 2 - Prudential regulation of FCA investment firms - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 08 Dec 2020: Vote

  Delegated Legislation — Financial Assistance to Industry - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: Aye

• 19 Nov 2020: Tweet

  RT @Conservatives: From Disraeli’s River Pollution Act to our Net Zero target, Conservative Governments have taken our responsibility to th… [Source]

• 16 Nov 2020: Vote

  Pension Schemes Bill [Lords] — Clause 124 - Climate change risk - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 12 Oct 2020: Vote

  Agriculture Bill — After Clause 42 - Contribution of agriculture and associated land use to climate change targets - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: Aye

• 29 Sep 2020: Vote

  United Kingdom Internal Market Bill — New Clause 6 - Economic development: climate and nature emergency impact statement - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 30 Jun 2020: Tweet

  RT @beisgovuk: We’re investing up to £100m in Direct Air Capture to take CO2 emissions from the air. This innovative tech could potentiall… [Source]

• 25 Jun 2020: Tweet

  RT @beisgovuk: We need #TacklingClimateChange at the heart of our economic recovery. UK emissions have already fallen by 43% since 1990 ????… [Source]

• 11 Mar 2020: Parliamentary Speech

  It has also been a pleasure to hear what the Government are doing in this Budget, which directly hits some of our most important objectives around climate change, levelling up and spreading opportunity, and driving productivity. I particularly want to talk about the last of those. Productivity can be boosted by a Budget, but productivity also boosts a Budget. All Chancellors need to find more cash—first, because in any year there are always some taxes that are in, or are going to be in, terminal decline, such as taxes on tobacco, on fuel and on hydrocarbons. Some taxes turn out to be more successful in their aims than anticipated, such as the sugar tax or soft drinks industry levy, and therefore take in less than first anticipated. There are always new priorities—for my right hon. Friend, they are in delivering on the key levelling-up and investment agenda. Then, of course, there is the unexpected. Nothing could be more devastating and more unexpected than a global pandemic. We must be ready to tackle these things when they come.

  Full debate: Budget Resolutions

• 04 Mar 2020: Tweet

  RT @AlokSharma_RDG: Going net zero will help grow our economy ????, create thousands of new jobs in greener industries and very importantly, p… [Source]

• 03 Mar 2020: Tweet

  RT @beisgovuk: Top 5 Year of #ClimateAction moments so far... ???? PM @BorisJohnson and Sir David Attenborough launch @COP26 (watch ????) ???? No… [Source]

• 5 Feb 2020: Parliamentary Speech

  Climate change is the defining challenge of our age. Although there is still so much to be done, we can take some pride in the fact that this country has been decarbonising faster than comparable countries in the G20. Much the greatest part of that reduction so far has been our success on energy supply; transport is now the sector with the most emissions, and we must therefore prioritise it strongly.

  Full debate: Transport

• 05 Feb 2020: Vote

  Transport - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 4 Feb 2020: Parliamentary Speech

  That this House has considered net zero targets and decarbonising transport.

  It is a genuine pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Nokes, and to have an opportunity to serve under your chairmanship. Tackling climate change is the defining challenge of our age. In the developed world—the rich world, with our higher per capita emissions—our responsibility is all the greater. I was proud last year when the UK became the first advanced economy to set in legislation a date for net zero, and I am pleased today that we are taking a further practical step by bringing forward the phase-out of petrol and diesel vehicles to 2035.

  The UK has been decarbonising more quickly than any other G20 country, although one would not know that from hearing most commentary in this country. One would think that it is because of some accounting methodology, the cunning exclusion of some categories, or the financial crash of 2007-08. One would think that it all happened before 2010 and that nothing has improved since, or that it was because we have exported all our emissions to somewhere else in the world. But no, this country has made good and sustained progress on decarbonisation under Governments of both types. The greatest part of that progress has been made on energy decarbonisation, and the reality is that there is a limit on how much further we can go in that area with current technology, because of the intermittent nature of the sources—the sun and the wind. It will change as battery technology improves, but that is the situation today. We have made good progress, but it is not enough. To hit our net zero 2050 target, we need to increase the decrease, as it were, in our rate of emissions by about 30% compared with what we have managed per annum since 1990. Partly because of the success in energy, transport is now the biggest single source of emissions.

  There are many different aspects of decarbonising transport, and we have only 90 minutes for this debate. Other colleagues might talk about active travel, such as walking and cycling, or about shipping, on-demand buses, the electrification of rail, heavy goods vehicles, the development of autonomous vehicles, alternative jet fuel technology or what could be the huge potential, eventually, of hydrogen—and it would be a turn-up for the books if nobody mentioned either HS2 or Heathrow airport. We could talk about many different aspects, but I will concentrate on roads, which is the biggest category, and specifically cars.

  My right hon. Friend is making a powerful speech about the importance of electric cars and how we meet our net-zero targets. Does he agree that we cannot escape the fact that electric vehicles are themselves pregnant with carbon? A huge amount of carbon goes into manufacturing them. One of the best and most effective ways to meet our net-zero target its not to use vehicles at all, and to ride bikes as much as possible, particularly in urban areas such as Cheltenham. Just 2% of our journeys are on bikes; in the Netherlands, it is closer to 35%.

  My hon. Friend is not only an advocate for walking and cycling but, in his high-vis jacket, a very visible advertisement for it. He is absolutely right, and that is another type of modal shift. Holland is in a slightly different position, in that it is a lot flatter than this country, which makes a huge difference. That should not take away from the fact that there are plenty of places in this country—London is one of them—that are pretty flat, and where there could be more cycling. Throughout our country, there is an opportunity for more walking and cycling. Those things have great benefits beyond decarbonisation, in terms of health, fitness and being outdoors.

  This country has an important and special role to play in decarbonisation. As well as domestic action, we have a role through international development and climate finance. We showed great leadership in Paris for COP21, and we have in COP26 another great opportunity to convene and make global progress.

  So much can be done locally. Many councils are doing innovative things, including my own in East Hampshire, with walking and cycling initiatives, plans to plant a tree for every resident and local housing development, particularly in the town of Bordon. Like colleagues in the Chamber, I have local groups in my area that show remarkable leadership, starting with children. I am always impressed that schoolchildren are showing thought leadership on climate change. We have great local groups, such as the Alton climate action network and, soon, the Petersfield climate action network.

  The greening campaign began in my constituency back in 2008, and was all about helping individual families and households to know what simple and practical things they could do to help tackle climate change. The campaign eventually spread to 100 towns and villages far and wide. Colleagues may disagree, but in terms of civic society action on climate change, East Hampshire is perhaps the most active area in the country. Members of Parliament can play a really important role to make those things happen.

  We should recognise success in decarbonisation in the UK, while acknowledging that we need to step up our efforts. We must never underestimate the scale of what we need to do—I doubt that anybody here in Westminster Hall is likely to do so—but we should not suggest that nothing has been achieved, because if we do that, people begin to feel disheartened and we will lose public confidence and engagement.

  People need to know that there is a big problem, but we are making progress and need to accelerate that progress. They need to know that we can and will do what is necessary. Ultimately, countries like ours need to do more than our fair share because people look to us for leadership. We had our industrial revolution first, so it makes sense to have our decarbonisation revolution first too. Transport must be at the heart of that.

  Full debate: Net Zero Targets and Decarbonising Transport

• 04 Feb 2020: Tweet

  RT @10DowningStreet: Today, PM @BorisJohnson launches the UN Climate Summit @Cop26, setting out the UK’s position as a world leader in tack… [Source]

• 04 Feb 2020: Tweet

  RT @HouseofCommons: .@DamianHinds is in #WestminsterHall leading a debate on the UK's #netzero carbon emissions targets and decarbonising t… [Source]

• 30 Jan 2020: Tweet

  Good progress on energy decarbonisation … next huge area is TRANSPORT. Looking forward to Tuesday’s Westminster Ha… https://t.co/RV3E5Vea0F [Source]

• 17 Jan 2020: Tweet

  RT @beisgovuk: ???????????? To reach #NetZero emissions by 2050 and protect our planet for future generations, we all need to work together - gove… [Source]

• 11 Dec 2019: Tweet

  On CLIMATE CHANGE: “Much more to do” ✔️ “Nothing done” ❌ Vote ????@Conservatives to continue & extend UK leadership… https://t.co/WXmLKQLBLb [Source]

• 28 Nov 2019: Tweet

  RT @michaelgove: Tonight I went to Channel 4 to talk about climate change but Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon refused to debate a Conserv… [Source]

• 28 Oct 2019: Parliamentary Speech

  I support this Bill. It is ambitious in its scope and its aims, and it starts, quite rightly, from the viewpoint of natural capital—the realisation that natural assets underpin all other types of productive capital, whether manufactured, financial, human or social. In a sense, the Bill builds on, and is analogous to, the successful Climate Change Act framework, with the environmental improvement plans and the Office for Environmental Protection.

  This Government are determined to have a green Brexit. Notwithstanding what the hon. Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh) said, it is nonsense to suggest that the European Union is the only thing that will keep this country on a path to a better, greener future. [ Interruption. ] The evidence for that—as she knows, despite her shaking her head—can be seen in, for example, what has happened on climate change, with our leadership on offshore wind, with this country being the first major nation to set an end date for unabated coal and, of course, with our legislating for net zero. These are all things that happened over and above EU frameworks—and all things, by the way, that happened with a Conservative Prime Minister.

  Trees stand at the intersection of what we are trying to do on climate change and on clean air, and the importance of the physical environment. I very much welcome the Bill’s provisions on street trees, but we can do so much more. My local council has committed, over time, to planting one tree for every resident in the district, and I wonder what incentives can be given to others.

  Full debate: Environment Bill

• 18 Oct 2019: Tweet

  Thank you very much for inviting me back today, and for a brilliant Climate Change Question Time. https://t.co/I9ZFV2iJIv [Source]

• 17 Oct 2019: Tweet

  RT @KwasiKwarteng: Fantastic commitment by our PM @BorisJohnson to chair a new Cabinet Committee on Climate Change. Conservatives have led… [Source]

• 8 Oct 2019: Parliamentary Speech

  I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton) on securing this important debate. We all know the scale of the challenge and the imperative it entails. Declaring an emergency comes easy and “net zero” trips off the tongue, but in reality, these things are difficult. To achieve that requires a per annum reduction in our emissions 30% greater than we have achieved on average since 1990. That is why the Committee on Climate Change said that a 2050 target was the latest that our country could credibly maintain our status as a climate leader at the same time as being the earliest at which it would be credibly deliverable alongside other Government objectives.

  I first came across that when I was a junior Minister at the Treasury and I would meet Finance Ministers from other countries, and we would talk about climate change. They would say, “Of course, you in the UK are leaders,” and I would say, “We are? That’s not what I keep reading.” Other countries do look to us, starting with our framework of the independent Committee on Climate Change, the periodic carbon budgets and the rest of it.

  In international studies we are ranked among the top 10 nations for our performance on tackling climate change. We have made huge progress on renewables, specifically offshore wind, where we are a world leader, if not the world leader. We have also set an end date for unabated coal. Our role at COP 21 was pivotal, as was our role in showing leadership in setting the net zero target. Our international work on climate finance through the Department for International Development is pivotal, too.

  We need a bipartisan approach. That has been a great strength of the approach to tackling climate change in this country. It is tempting to say we must always do more and we must do it sooner. As with international aid, there are two aspects to this: first, what we do ourselves; and secondly, how we can leverage our position internationally. However, leveraging our leadership is helpful only if what we say is credible—if we say not only that we are going to do something but that we absolutely will do it. If we are going to say we must do this bigger, better and faster, we must be honest with people about the implications of that. I sometimes hear people talking about change for them versus system change, as if system change has no effect on individual families and companies, but it does: it affects the rate of economic growth, which in turn affects jobs and wages, and of course it affects the taxes people pay.

  Full debate: Government Plan for Net Zero Emissions

• 07 Sep 2019: Tweet

  RT @beisgovuk: We are doubling our #GreenClimateFund contribution, helping developing countries adopt #cleangrowth and tackle #climatechang… [Source]

• 07 Sep 2019: Tweet

  RT @beisgovuk: We recognise the urgent need to tackle #climatechange and that's why we're the first major economy to legislate for #netzero… [Source]

• 07 Sep 2019: Tweet

  Thank you to all the Petersfield WI members and others who came to last night’s event on climate change. A wide-ra… https://t.co/SMI0T3Y2LA [Source]

• 25 Jun 2019: Vote

  Delegated Legislation — Value Added Tax - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: Aye

• 24 Jun 2019: Parliamentary Speech

  I totally acknowledge and celebrate the fact that school children are among those showing leadership on this issue. We cover climate change in the national curriculum, and rightly so.

  Full debate: Topical Questions

• 13 Jun 2019: Tweet

  RT @10DowningStreet: "It's crucial for our future and the future of the planet that we end the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050.… [Source]

• 12 Jun 2019: Tweet

  RT @theCCCuk: Just out: Lord Deben, CCC Chairman, responds to news that the UK Government will bring forward legislation to set #NetZero ta… [Source]

• 24 May 2019: Tweet

  It’s important that children learn about climate change at school ???????????? - and they do. https://t.co/zllhGnv8lb [Source]

• 26 Apr 2019: Tweet

  To reassure people who are, rightly, saying that climate change should be taught about in schools: it is. Primary… https://t.co/U3qVc898YD [Source]

• 26 Oct 2016: Tweet

  Tackling climate change is the subject for my column in today's Petersfield Post. Copy available on my website… https://t.co/wFYYdk3zyM [Source]

• 06 Sep 2016: Vote

  Finance Bill — VAT on Installation of Energy Saving Materials - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 09 May 2016: Vote

  Housing and Planning Bill — Planning obligations and affordable housing - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: Aye

• 03 May 2016: Vote

  Housing and Planning Bill — Neighbourhood right of appeal - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: Aye

• 19 Apr 2016: Parliamentary Speech

  I look forward to reading the hon. Lady’s report. The Treasury takes a balanced approach to making sure that we stay on target to meet our commitments. We are on target to meet our commitment of 15% of renewable energy by 2020, but we must do so in a cost-effective way, recognising that the subsidies to early stage technologies can only be paid for by taxpayers.

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

  Indeed. Were it only the case that the sun would always shine. Under Labour, we had the highest dependency on fossil fuels in the G8 and the lowest contribution from renewable energy of any major EU country. As I said earlier, the deployment of solar power has been a great success story since 2010.

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

  As we covered earlier, the tariff system in place to encourage renewable energy has to deliver a balanced portfolio of energy, and it does so. Of course, we encourage energy firms always to pass price cuts that they benefit from on to their customers.

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 14 Mar 2016: Vote

  Energy Bill [Lords] — New Clause 8 — Decarbonisation target range - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 14 Mar 2016: Vote

  Energy Bill [Lords] — New Clause 3 — Carbon capture and storage strategy for the energy industry - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 26 Oct 2015: Vote

  Finance Bill (Ways and Means) (Payment of Corporation Tax) — Chapter 5 — Supplementary provisions - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 8 Sep 2015: Parliamentary Speech

  Several hon. Members have voiced their concern about the impact of the clause, and I want to take a moment to address those concerns. The change will not increase household energy bills, because the climate change levy is not charged on households. Business customers should not lose out from the change either. The business energy market is competitive and wholesale electricity prices will not be increased as a result. Energy-intensive businesses are already exempt from 90% of the costs of the climate change levy for electricity by being in climate change agreements. The change will also not affect renewable generators’ long-term investment plans. Most generators were expecting to receive a negligible value from the exemption by the 2020s.

  Of course, the renewables sector will also benefit from Government’s recent cuts to corporation tax, which will save businesses over £10 billion a year, giving the UK the lowest rate of corporation tax in the G20. Lastly, the change will not affect the UK’s ability to meet its climate change goals, as emissions from electricity generation are capped through the EU emissions trading system. Nor will it affect our ability to source at least 30% of electricity demand from renewables by 2020. The Government remain committed to meeting their climate change objectives but we believe we must do so in a cost-effective way.

  It is a bigger rug than that. The climate change levy is only a relatively minor part of the support that was given to the industry, compared with the support given through the renewables obligation and through contracts for difference.

  It is essential that we show that our measures to achieve climate change and renewables objectives provide good value for money, in order to retain long-term public support for them. I look forward to hearing hon. Members’ views and I urge them to give their support to the clause.

  I am grateful for this opportunity to contribute to the debate on this clause, which I believe should simply have been deleted. Ministers have failed to provide a robust or even remotely convincing justification for removing the renewables exemption to the climate change levy. This would be laughable if it were not so serious. The Chancellor has complained that this is all very fine because the UK now has

  “a long-term framework for investment in renewable energy in place”. —[ Official Report , 8 July 2015; Vol. 598, c. 331.]

  Clause 45 of the Finance Bill is one of several such senseless attacks on sustainable energy and climate policies. It will have negative impacts on existing and potential renewable energy developments, some of which are already being reported to have become unfeasible and which have now been cancelled. It will also have negative impacts on the overall investment climate for everyone from small community groups to multinational businesses, all of which are looking to put their money into clean power. This is the very last thing we need, for our economy, for our jobs and for tackling climate change, and it flies in the face of public opinion. New polling this month found, yet again, overwhelming support for renewables, including onshore wind and solar, with even greater levels of support for community energy generation. Some 78% would support local projects, even within 2 miles of their home. For all those reasons and more it seems intelligent to have an incentive, so that when a business or public sector organisation purchases clean renewable power, rather than dirty polluting power, it pays less tax.

  Ministers claim that the change is intended to prevent taxpayers’ money from supporting renewable electricity generated overseas, but in reality ditching the renewable energy exemption is a completely disproportionate measure, which turns a policy designed to encourage low-carbon electricity into little more than an electricity tax for businesses. If a third of benefits do go overseas, that should surely still mean that two thirds support home-grown renewable power generation and jobs here in the UK. If Ministers really want to cut out overseas generators, they should therefore modify the policy to fix the anomaly at that rate. Did anyone ever even consult industry about what level of cut to make? We have already seen by the Minister’s inability to answer my question a few moments ago that there simply was no consultation with the industry in advance. Ditching this exemption completely is, as Friends of the Earth has said, like making people pay an alcohol tax on apple juice. It harms British renewable energy businesses and undermines efforts to tackle climate change. No wonder it has received widespread condemnation, on both environmental and economic grounds.

  This is all happening less than three months before the crucial climate talks in Paris. Yet at that time we will hear the spin machine in the Department of Energy and Climate Change going into overdrive, coming out with all kinds of lovely rhetoric which is completely at odds with what the Government are doing on the ground with this measure. It is yet another example of the huge gulf between the rhetoric and the reality of the policy. When it comes to avoiding dangerous climate change, the shift to clean renewable energy is key. Phasing out fossil fuels and phasing in a 100%-clean agenda has to be at the top of the agenda. Yet, once again, the UK is going in the wrong direction, with generous tax breaks and taxpayer-funded propaganda propping up the fossil fuel companies, while the knife is being stuck into our own home-grown renewable energy sector.

  The fact is that the renewable energy industry is a fantastic advantage to our economy. It does some brilliant things, and it does so despite Government policy, not because of it. It is now absolutely at risk of not being able to get away from the subsidies. It does not need subsidies for much longer and has always understood that there will be digression. [Interruption.] From a sedentary position, the hon. Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) is suggesting that this industry is surviving only because of subsidies. Nothing could be further from the truth. The subsidies are coming down. There is digression, but it has to happen in a planned way. It is not justifiable, or even reasonable, to expect an industry to not know what kind of economic situation it is working in from one year to the next. This Government keep changing the goalposts on an almost monthly basis. The renewable energy industry and the solar industry know that digression will happen and that subsidies will be withdrawn, but it must be to a predetermined timetable. When that timetable keeps changing, it is incredibly difficult for business to adapt.

  Compare that with what is happening to the nuclear industry. The nuclear industry will have subsidies for decades to come. It is already 50 years old, and yet Hinkley Point C could not even begin to be built were it not for the fact that it has massive subsidies, which are hugely bigger than anything that the renewable energy industry could ever dream of. I will not hear suggestions that the renewable energy industry is somehow greedy when it comes to subsidies; absolutely nothing could be further from the truth.

  In conclusion, if the Government go ahead with applying this climate change levy to the renewable energy industry, they will strangle an industry that has so much potential for getting climate emissions down, creating jobs and bringing on a stronger and more resilient economy.

  Full debate: Finance Bill

• 08 Sep 2015: Vote

  Bill Presented — Devolution (London) Bill — Clause 45 — CCL: removal of exemption for electricity from renewable sources - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: Aye

• 14 Jul 2015: Vote

  21. Climate Change Levy: Removal of Exemption for Electricity from Renewable Sources - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: Aye

• 04 Dec 2013: Vote

  Recall of Elected Representatives — Schedule 4 — Application and modification of emissions limit duty - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: Aye

• 04 Jun 2013: Vote

  Energy Bill — Clause 133 — Financial provisions - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 04 Jun 2013: Vote

  Energy Bill — Clause 10 — Direction to offer contract - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 04 Jun 2013: Vote

  Energy Bill — Clause 1 — Decarbonisation - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 03 Jun 2013: Vote

  Communities and Local Government — Clause 42 — Duty not to exceed annual carbon dioxide emissions limit - Pro-climate vote: No - Their vote: No

• 19 Dec 2012: Vote

  Charities Act 2011 (Amendment) — Energy Bill - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 17 Oct 2012: Vote

  Relationship, Drug and Alcohol Education (Curriculum) — New Clause 22 — Interpretation of the green purposes: duty to assess impact on the Climate Change Act 2008 - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 11 Jun 2012: Vote

  Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 14 Sep 2011: Vote

  Prime Minister — Clause 42 — Domestic energy efficient regulations - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 14 Sep 2011: Vote

  Prime Minister — Clause 42 — Domestic energy efficient regulations - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 14 Sep 2011: Vote

  Prime Minister — New Clause 1 — Energy efficiency aim - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: No

• 24 Mar 2011: Parliamentary Speech

  13. When he plans to respond to the Committee on Climate Change’s fourth carbon budget report. ( 48550 )

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 1 Mar 2011: Parliamentary Speech

  It is a little unhelpful to introduce things into the debate that are not directly relevant, such as climate change and the development of the countryside. As was pointed out, in this country, we cannot just fell large numbers of trees, raze them to the ground and build things. That is just not allowed, whoever owns the land, as I think the right hon. Lady knows. There are, however, a number of reasonable, legitimate and important questions, and people have some deep, understandable concerns about aspects of the proposals. One key point, with the distinction between heritage forests and other forests, is that the protections for the heritage forest are clear. However, people want additional comfort about forests that are not classified as heritage forests and, indeed, how they can appeal for a forest to be classed as a heritage forest. That is the case with some of the forests in my patch of East Hampshire.

  Full debate: Forestry Commission

• 1 Jul 2010: Parliamentary Speech

  The line “charity begins at home” holds a certain attraction, but, as we see again and again from the generosity of the British people when called upon, charity here certainly does not end at home. The moral and altruistic argument for aid is strong, but as politicians we can, and must, do better than hitherto in explaining to, and convincing, people why aid can also be in our own interests when properly targeted and as long as we know that other wealthy nations are also making their proper contribution alongside ours. A larger world gross domestic product benefits not just newly developing countries, but the entire world economy, through bigger markets, specialisation and trade. It ensures that the world’s scarce resources, including human resources, are put to better use, and through the promotion of stability in otherwise volatile parts of the world, it contributes to our security. Furthermore, there are benefits in terms of climate change, economic migration and so on, and often direct benefit can be had from strategic bilateral relationships, which of course are competitive exercises between countries.

  Full debate: Global Poverty