Iain Duncan Smith MP: Climate Timeline

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Iain Duncan Smith's Climate-related Tweets, Speeches & Votes

We've found the following climate-related tweets, speeches & votes by Iain Duncan Smith

• 28 Oct 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s confirmation that he will meet the family of Jimmy Lai, but does he agree that as China is the world’s largest emitter, we need to engage with China pragmatically as we work to tackle the climate crisis?

  The Foreign Secretary is enthusiastic about giving trillions of pounds of UK taxpayers’ money in reparations for slavery that occurred hundreds of years ago. However, when it comes to modern-day slavery in China, despite what he states was said privately, all we get publicly is a mealy-mouthed press release—a read-out from the Foreign Office that does not even mention the issue specifically. Why is that? Is it because the Government realise that we are now dependent on China for many things, including the delivery of the net zero policy? China controls 70% of the rare earth metals that we will need to deliver renewable energy. We have left ourselves open to that kind of blackmail, and now we cannot speak up against human rights abuses.

  I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I thank the Foreign Secretary for making it clear that Jimmy Lai’s release is a priority, and I join hon. Members in saying that the issue is urgent, not just because of his failing health, but because once the trial restarts on 20 November, it will be more difficult to bring the situation to a positive conclusion. The Foreign Secretary mentioned the need for a consistent strategy towards China—consistent not just from him, but from the whole of Government. China reacts to naked economic self-interest, so can he make sure that the matter is raised across Government—by the Business Secretary on issues of trade, by the Net Zero Secretary on issues of green energy, as my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) mentioned, and by the Education Secretary when it comes to education, so that we appeal to that self-interest?

  Full debate: China: Human Rights and Sanctions

• 21 May 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  As we go to net zero, surely we also need to retain our sense of human rights. Polysilicon mostly comes from Xinjiang, where it is mined using slave labour. To what extend are we prepared to say that net zero trumps slave labour, and are we checking on slave labour products in the arrays?

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 19 Mar 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  (i) the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; and

  Full debate: Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill [Lords]

• 5 Dec 2023: Parliamentary Speech

  Yes, I agree. The funny thing, which I raised the other day, is that if we are moving towards low-emission or zero-emission vehicles, electric vehicles, hydrogen-propelled vehicles and so on, which is the generally accepted plan for where we want to be, are we now aiming for road usage by low or net zero vehicles, or is it just a blanket anti-car problem? That is an issue that I never settle. In a way, we will be defeating ourselves as we head towards that process. Will the measures be lifted as more people have zero-emission vehicles?

  Full debate: Road Humps and 20 mph Speed Limits

• 20 Sep 2023: Tweet

  The point is that the right choice has to be a clear @Conservatives one. One that reduces the burdens on families and businesses. One that is open about the true cost of this rush to net zero. One that recognises the need to get there without an ideology that places huge burdens… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1704420243190194629

• 5 Sep 2023: Parliamentary Speech

  When the Chinese Government trashed the Sino-British agreement, the Americans sanctioned 12 of the most senior people responsible—and the same with Xinjiang, by the way, when they sanctioned something like that many as well. We have sanctioned nobody in Hong Kong since the start of this saga. Why are we not sanctioning them? Why are we so worried about what they might say or do? If it is to get their help in stopping the Russians in the war, then they are busily supplying them with weapons, parts and all sorts of stuff at the moment. When it comes to net zero, there is nothing zero about their net. It is off the charts, and we are the ones who will pick up the pieces.

  Full debate: British Nationals Detained Overseas

• 06 Aug 2023: Tweet

  Net Zero and the threat from China. The drive to achieve the 2030 net zero deadline on petrol and diesel cars means the UK being swamped with cheap electric cars made in China using huge amounts of fossil fuels, making us even more dependent on China. https://www.iainduncansmith.org.uk/news/net-zero-and-threat-china [Source]

• 01 Aug 2023: Tweet

  Fascinating how the argument here is that the UK isn’t doing enough on climate change. The drive to achieve the 2030 net zero deadline on petrol and diesel cars means the UK being swamped with cheap electric cars made in China using huge amounts of fossil fuels. [Source]

• 22 Jul 2023: Tweet

  The right choice has to be a clear @Conservatives one. One that reduces the burdens on families/businesses, that is open about the true cost of rush to Net Zero, that recognises the need to get there without an ideology placing huge burdens on taxpayers. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/07/22/uxbridge-by-election-conservatives-stand-net-zero/ [Source]

• 13 Jun 2023: Parliamentary Speech

  I conclude on this simple point. The new clause is there to try to make it clear that we face a most significant and dangerous threat from the Chinese Communist party in control of China today. It is everywhere. It is using slave labour to produce polysilicon to collect solar rays. We all beat our chests proudly and proclaim that we are heading towards net zero, but on whose backs is that? It is people working in slave labour conditions to produce these things, people under surveillance, and people taken away on genocides. A Government already doing this internally are now referring it out to us. We must make it clear beyond peradventure that Government Departments must now rid themselves of equipment and never place contracts with other companies on equipment that comes under the rule of the national security law. I am looking for commitments from the Government today that, by the time the Bill gets to the other place, that will finally be resolved. If so, they will have my approval and that of many others in the Chamber.

  Full debate: Procurement Bill [Lords]

  The UK spends about £300 billion a year on public procurement. We could question whether that is a good thing. That has already been hinted at—whether some of these services at least would be better off delivered in-house by public bodies themselves rather than via contracts. However, this is probably not the place to go into that debate. I want to focus on the need to use that procurement spend as a force for good—to keep wealth in local economies, to ensure that public money goes to responsible companies and not those that exploit people and nature, and to help us meet our climate goals and to preserve a liveable future for all of us. I want to see values, not just value, at the heart of the public procurement process in public life.

  That brings me to amendment 60 on the national procurement policy statement, which sets out the strategic objectives that the Government want public procurement to achieve. The amendment would require the Government to assess and report on the impact of the national procurement policy statement on meeting environmental and climate targets and to set out any steps that they intend to take to meet them.

  Thanks to the efforts of climate campaigners across the country, we are now seeing the net zero goal and the need for climate action acknowledged in strategies and policy statements across the public sector. But these acknowledgements remain meaningless unless we assess the real world impact of those statements. Are our plans to reduce emissions actually being implemented and are they working? The amendment would signal to contracting authorities and businesses that the Government are serious about aligning procurement with climate and environmental goals. It would also enable Government to see where policy might need to be strengthened if it is not having the intended impact.

  New clause 17 would require public contracts that include the supply of food to be aligned with nutritional guidelines and to specify options suitable for a plant-based diet. We know that animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to global heating and biodiversity loss, representing around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. More and more people are choosing to move to more plant-based eating and almost one quarter of people in Britain now follow a mainly or entirely meat-free diet.

  The 2022 progress report to Parliament by the Climate Change Committee urges the Government not to ignore the role of diet and notes:

  Full debate: Procurement Bill [Lords]

• 13 Apr 2023: Tweet

  China leads rise in export restrictions on critical minerals, OECD says. "Beijing increased the number of restrictions on critical raw materials needed for electric cars and renewable energy such as lithium by a factor of nine in the 11 years to 2020". https://www.ft.com/content/198b6824-21d6-4633-9a97-00164d23c13f [Source]

• 19 Oct 2022: Vote

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

• 20 Apr 2022: Parliamentary Speech

  The fourth and final thing that needs to happen is that we need a new international convention. The 1951 convention, which Britain played a big part in setting up, is now completely out of date. That is because, since then, as colleagues will appreciate, there has been a revolution in travel. We also now have the tremendous push of climate change, which is pushing migration up very high. So we need a new international convention. I put this point to the Prime Minister on 25 July last year, and he described it as an “excellent point”, but I fear that since then nothing has been done. Britain needs to use its leverage and its experience at the United Nations as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, and it also needs to use its brilliant diplomatic experience and knowledge to negotiate a new convention.

  Full debate: Nationality and Borders Bill

• 08 Mar 2022: Tweet

  1) Dangerous moments in politics happen when the opinion of the political class coalesces & all debate is ended. So it has been with the new religion of Net Zero. Under this banner, whilst virtue-signalling, the UK has allowed North sea oil & gas exploration to nigh on disappear. [Source]

• 14 Dec 2021: Tweet

  Cross party MPs call for Value for Money Review of the #EdmontonIncinerator construction. Letter to @GregHands Minister for Energy, Clean Growth & Climate Change ahead of the vote by the @connectNLWA to award the contract to the only remaining bidder, Acciona, due on 16th Dec. [Source]

• 13 Dec 2021: Vote

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

• 22 Nov 2021: Tweet

  In its rush to net-zero, the West is aligning itself with Chinese human rights abuses. Much of our 'green industrial revolution' will be fed by materials produced in Xinjiang, where forced labour is rife. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/22/rush-net-zero-west-aligning-chinese-human-rights-abuses/ [Source]

• 25 Oct 2021: Tweet

  Our commitment to net zero has become quasi-religious. It needs to be scrutinised properly https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/10/25/commitment-net-zero-has-become-quasi-religious-must-scrutinised/ [Source]

• 20 Jul 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  The success or failure of the COP26 rests heavily on whether the UK, as chairman, can persuade China—the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide—to set tough targets to cut its output. Is this affecting the Government’s response to this issue? What is the UK’s strategy to influence China across the piece, as there are many areas where it needs to do so?

  I can assure my right hon. Friend that the actions of the UK Government in response to this cyber-attack are driven by this cyber-attack and our complete unwillingness to accept it as a pattern of behaviour. He does make an incredibly important point though, and it reflects the point that I have made that we cannot simply ignore China. A previous question this morning highlighted the fact that China is still heavily reliant on coal as an energy production source, and we know the climate change implications of that. We want China to behave better on the international stage both on things such as cyber-security, intellectual property and human rights, but also on the incredibly important agenda that will affect our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren, which is the protection of the environment and a move towards greener energy generation.

  Full debate: Cyber-attack: Microsoft

• 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

• 24 May 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  If we are serious about levelling up, building back better or indeed about climate leadership, we have to switch to long-term preventive spending, and we need to do it fast. I want briefly to offer some further evidence of why we should be assessing each and every provision of the Finance Bill for their impact on human and ecological health and wellbeing. The case for new clause 21 is made splendidly by the Treasury’s own Dasgupta review of the economics of biodiversity, which calls for

  “A COVID-19 recovery strategy based on growth first and sustainability second is likely to fail the Paris Agreement.”

  Robust alternatives do exist. None of them is perfect, but none is anywhere near as flawed as using GDP growth as our main measure of economic success. The time for the Treasury to change is now. The UK, through the G7 and COP26, should be leading the world towards a wellbeing economy. One modest step should be adopting new clause 21, which recognises, as the Treasury’s Dasgupta review states:

  Full debate: Finance Bill

• 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

• 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

• 29 Jun 2020: Parliamentary Speech

  My hon. Friend puts it absolutely correctly. As I said earlier, our approach to China should be clear- eyed and rooted in our values and our interests. China is a leading member of the international community and we have a strong and constructive relationship in many areas. It has to be part of the solution to many major global problems, whether that is global health, as we have seen in the past few months, or climate change. It has always been the case that where we have concerns, we raise them, and where the United Kingdom needs to intervene, we will.

  Full debate: Xinjiang: Uyghurs

• 04 Mar 2020: Tweet

  Interesting article by @OwenPaterson - Forget wind turbines. Here's how we can meet Net Zero without derailing the economy https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2020/03/04/forget-wind-turbines-can-meet-net-zero-without-derailing-economy/ via @telegraphnews [Source]

• 03 Oct 2019: Tweet

  Stupid & dangerous stunts like this totally undermine the debate put forward by people who genuinely want to address climate change. @DVLA this vehicle appears to be untaxed... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/03/extinction-rebellion-spray-fake-blood-treasury-building/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw via @telegraphnews [Source]

• 25 Jun 2019: Vote

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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 11 Jun 2012: Vote

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