Ian Murray MP: Climate Timeline

• Timeline
• Votes
• Speeches
• Tweets
• Contact

Ian Murray's Climate-related Tweets, Speeches & Votes

We've found the following climate-related tweets, speeches & votes by Ian Murray

• 4 Dec 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  I congratulate not only the nine community councils in my hon. Friend’s area on their initiative, but community councils up and down the country that do so much work on our behalf to ensure that the community benefit fund, derived from local wind farms, makes a tangible difference to local people. I congratulate her on standing up consistently for her community. Our mission is to become a clean energy superpower by 2030, and our communities will be at the heart of that. Communities must benefit from hosting national infrastructure for clean power. That is why right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero is developing guidance on community benefits, which will be published in due course.

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 30 Oct 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  I welcome my hon. Friend to his place; it was a wonderful election result in his constituency of Airdrie and Shotts. Investment in the UK to drive growth is the Government’s No. 1 priority, and we have already started delivery on it. Just this month, we hosted an international investment summit, at which we announced £63 billion of shovel-ready investment across the UK. That includes the likes of Greenvolt’s £2.5 billion investment in Scotland and Iberdrola’s £24 billion investment in green energy. We also announced this week that Glasgow will host the Commonwealth games, which will bring £100 million to the city.

  Full debate: Inward Investment: Scotland

  The hon. Gentleman will not have to wait long. The Budget is in about an hour’s time, and the Chancellor will lay out all the spending plans in that Budget. The biggest impact on his constituency of Dundee will of course be made by GB Energy, given what that will do to our green energy system; it makes me very surprised that nobody from the SNP voted to back the Bill last night.

  Full debate: Inward Investment: Scotland

• 4 Sep 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  I thank my hon. Friend and congratulate him on winning Coatbridge and Bellshill. Scotland and its world-class industrial workforce will play a driving role in our ambition to become a green energy powerhouse in this country. For example, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Scottish Government and I met representatives of Petroineos earlier this week to discuss what support can be provided to ensure a sustainable future for the industrial clusters in the wider Falkirk and Grangemouth region, which is crucial to the entirety of Scotland and the UK. That includes our commitment to fund Project Willow with the Scottish Government.

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

  I agree with the right hon. Gentleman and congratulate him on his role when he was in the Scotland Office. We hope to emulate much of the work that he did. I have met the European Marine Energy Centre and those involved with tidal resources in his constituency. This is critically important to our net zero ambitions and in getting to clean power by 2030. I am due to meet them when I visit his constituency in the coming weeks, and I will make sure that this is top of the agenda.

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 4 Sep 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero is due to make an announcement on the location of GB Energy very soon. I regret that, in the interim, I can say no more than that, although I am sure that my hon. Friend’s words of encouragement in respect of Glasgow will not have escaped the attention of my Cabinet colleagues. I can announce exclusively to the House today, Mr Speaker, that GB Energy will be headquartered in Scotland.

  Full debate: Energy Industry

  I congratulate my hon. Friend on winning Glenrothes and Mid Fife. I acknowledge his efforts, and those of many hon. Friends in the House and of people in the local area, advocating for the Methil fabrication yard. The yard, along with many others like it, will have a key role in fulfilling our ambition for Scotland and the UK to become a green energy powerhouse. In addition to GB Energy, there is the national wealth fund, which will help unlock further investment opportunities for ports and heavy industry, and manufacturing companies will have a crucial role to play in creating jobs in our transition to net zero. I have been to the Methil plant twice. It has a world-class workforce, and I can assure them that we will do everything we possibly can to make sure that they have a bright future.

  Full debate: Energy Industry

• 20 Jun 2024: Tweet

  RT @ChrisMurray2010: We are so behind as a country in Scotland on tackling climate change. First the SNP ditched the climate targets. Ye… [Source]

• 16 Jun 2024: Tweet

  RT @ChrisMurray2010: Great to have @IanMurrayMP (the other Edinburgh Labour Murray!) on Porty prom today talking about the climate crisis,… [Source]

• 03 Jun 2024: Tweet

  RT @FoEScot: It’s unbelievable that the Scottish Government is taking a backwards step on recycling. Like with our climate targets, minis… [Source]

• 26 Apr 2024: Tweet

  RT @ScottishLabour: Only Labour will deliver the climate leadership Scotland needs. https://twitter.com/ScottishLabour/status/1783759326676439180/photo/1 [Source]

• 17 Apr 2024: Tweet

  RT @martinmccluskey: Opposing a windfall tax on oil and gas companies, and now scrapping Government climate targets. No wonder so many fo… [Source]

• 29 Nov 2023: Parliamentary Speech

  The announcement of the closure of the refinery at Grangemouth is a hammer blow. Too many communities are still living with the devastation of being left behind after coalmine closures in the 1980s. That must not be allowed to happen again. Grangemouth’s owner is buying football clubs and investing in plants elsewhere, while the workers lose out. The Prime Minister has decided that a culture war on the environment trumps getting the UK into the global green energy race by backing Labour’s green energy superpower plans. The devolution settlement demands that both Governments work together, but they certainly do not. What discussions is the Secretary of State having with the Scottish Government to protect jobs at Grangemouth? What impact will the closure have on the Acorn carbon capture and storage project?

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 21 Sep 2023: Tweet

  RT @paulwaugh: On @BBCr4today, netzero experts + businesses unhappy w @RishiSunak. @energyukceo: firms already offer heat pumps for same p… [Source]

• 15 Aug 2023: Tweet

  RT @AnasSarwar: A fantastic visit to @LindAndLime with @Keir_Starmer and @tracygilbert72 this morning. Powered by 100% green energy and pa… [Source]

• 13 Aug 2023: Tweet

  RT @ScottishLabour: ???? @jackiebmsp: “Scots who want to deliver a just-transition and the next generation of energy jobs know that the change… [Source]

• 27 Jul 2023: Tweet

  The next @UKLabour government will turn the UK into a green superpower for cheaper, secure and green energy as well as jobs and the climate. My column for todays @edinburghpaper https://twitter.com/IanMurrayMP/status/1684603432202534919/photo/1 [Source]

• 14 Jul 2023: Tweet

  RT @ScotRenew: Earlier this week @ScotRenew CEO Claire Mack met @IanMurrayMP to discuss opportunities for Scotland’s renewable energy indus… [Source]

• 19 Jun 2023: Tweet

  What a contrast: The launch of the green mission for the next U.K. Labour Govt to turn the U.K. into a green energy superpower versus the same old tired and broken independence arguments. https://twitter.com/Dennynews/status/1670674018670907393 [Source]

• 14 Jun 2023: Parliamentary Speech

  The motion talks about setting up a cost of living Committee. That may seem like a sensible idea, but when we look at the small print, the flaws of the proposal become clear. I am left wondering whether the real reason for proposing it is to try to get one of the SNP group’s many disgruntled Members an additional salary payment for being the Committee Chair, as stated in the motion. Perhaps the SNP is trying to campaign to get the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) a Committee Chair position after campaigning so heavily against him for the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee position in the House a few weeks ago.

  I am also left wondering why, if the SNP thinks this is such a great idea, it does not use its coalition majority in Holyrood to create a similar Committee in the Scottish Parliament. Perhaps it does not wish to do that, but it does want to spend upwards of half a million pounds here on a Committee with 45 members that would not include members of the Education Committee. The Committee would include three members of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, even though the cost of living crisis is no doubt driven mostly by the energy crisis. Is the SNP aware that the biggest spark of the cost of living crisis is spiralling energy bills for families and businesses?

  Full debate: Cost of Living and Brexit

• 17 May 2023: Parliamentary Speech

  With the energy crisis, the importance of developing Scotland’s renewable energy sector has never been higher. The UK Government have no energy strategy—indeed, it is a sticking-plaster approach to the energy crisis, all paid for by the taxpayer, of course. In the 16 years of the Scottish Government, they have regularly launched glossy policy documents on renewables but have never delivered, especially on jobs. A scathing report from the Scottish Trades Union Congress said of the Scottish Government that “with energy bills soaring, climate targets missed and job promises broken, more targets without the detail of how they will be realised is unacceptable.” Does the Minister agree that only Labour has the solution to this crisis, creating high-quality, well-paid renewable jobs so that bills can be lowered, energy can be secured, and Britain can be an energy superpower?

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

  It is critical to develop green energy jobs, but we also have to protect our environment—that is crucial. Unfortunately, waterways and coastal communities across the UK are being polluted by this Government’s refusal to stop pumping the equivalent of 40,000 days’ worth of raw sewage into them every year. It is little wonder that the SNP did not support Labour’s Bill to stop this disgraceful practice, as the Scottish Government do exactly the same. It was recently revealed that the equivalent of 3,000 swimming pools’ worth of raw sewage was dumped on Scottish beaches, waterways and parks last year. With both Governments allowing that sewage scandal to go on every day, and promises about green jobs and renewable industries broken, why should the public believe a word that the Scottish and UK Governments say about the environment?

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 16 May 2023: Parliamentary Speech

  Huge promises have been made off the back of the renewable energy potential in Scotland, but little has been delivered. The truth is that the SNP Government—I give them credit for this—have created tens of thousands of highly skilled, high paid jobs in the renewables sector; it is just that none of them are in Scotland, but are instead in Denmark, Indonesia and everywhere else where that they have shipped off the contracts to foreign shores. So the renewables potential, which could create highly paid jobs and lower energy bills for everyone in Scotland, is being used to lower bills in Scandinavia, while we pay the highest bills in Europe. That is the work of the Scottish Government—nobody else.

  Full debate: Cost of Living

• 14 Dec 2022: Parliamentary Speech

  We could have debated the biggest issue for our planet: climate change. SNP Members will not do that, either, as the Climate Change Committee said this week:

  So we will not debate climate change.

  Perhaps SNP Members would like to debate energy and the First Minister’s pledge to set up a Scottish national energy company, but they will not, because that plan has been dropped. The statistics that they have been bandying around on renewables have been trashed by the UK Statistics Authority, and Scottish civil servants have been telling them for a long time to stop using them. The only way to get a national energy company is through a UK Labour Government delivering on GB Energy, which would reduce bills, provide energy security, create jobs, contribute to our climate goals and be owned by the people, for the people. So, nothing on energy.

  Full debate: Scotland’s Future

• 07 Nov 2022: Tweet

  RT @haveigotnews: World leaders at COP27 must move ‘further and faster’, says man who only decided he could be bothered to go on Thursday:… [Source]

• 07 Nov 2022: Tweet

  The FM hasn’t mentioned this at #cop27 https://t.co/xdHgsyk7s8 [Source]

• 27 Oct 2022: Tweet

  One of his first decisions as PM. COP26 was only a year ago and the PM follows it up with a no show. Very poor. https://t.co/3dPui8cQ16 [Source]

• 19 Oct 2022: Vote

  Ban on Fracking for Shale Gas Bill - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 11 Oct 2022: Tweet

  RT @UKLabour: Businesses like @vaillantuk are taking renewable energy seriously, providing local, green jobs. This would be central to Lab… [Source]

• 31 Aug 2022: Tweet

  Great to be with @RachelReevesMP in Fife today. Energy security, climate crisis and energy costs all at the top of the agenda. https://twitter.com/RachelReevesMP/status/1564997777360388096 [Source]

• 13 Dec 2021: Vote

  Subsidy Control Bill — Schedule 1 - The subsidy control principles - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 18 Nov 2021: Tweet

  COP26 - success or failure? My column for today’s @edinburghpaper https://t.co/KzmOHXo1Nt [Source]

• 05 Nov 2021: Tweet

  RT @Georgia_Gould: Great to bump into @Ed_Miliband & @IanMurrayMP at #COP26. Labour’s pledge to invest £28 billion a year into net zero i… [Source]

• 04 Nov 2021: Tweet

  As I spend a few days at #COP26 I've written in the @edinburghpaper about the need to get public buy-in and how my local climate change manifesto was a way to engage local people in what climate change and COP means to them. https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/why-public-must-have-their-say-about-climate-change-ian-murray-mp-3443868 [Source]

• 04 Nov 2021: Tweet

  Really positive to be at #COP26. Lots of very positive discussions and a real sense that progress can be made. https://t.co/hmrKptgUsd [Source]

• 3 Nov 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  A proper plan for jobs would have Scottish renewables at its heart. There are four simple steps that the Minister could take today to unleash that proper plan’s potential: first, persuade the Treasury to create a pot dedicated to tidal energy in the fourth contracts for difference auction; secondly, instruct Ofgem to reform transmission charges to stop disadvantaging Scotland; thirdly, fund energy interconnectors from the island generators to the mainland; and fourthly, back the Acorn carbon capture and storage project. Those Government decisions would not only transform the UK energy sector, but create a Scottish jobs legacy from COP26. Will the Minister demand that his Cabinet colleagues act now to create a proper jobs plan for Scotland?

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 03 Nov 2021: Tweet

  RT @ScottishLabour: ✅ Transform the UK energy sector. ✅ Leave a lasting Scottish jobs legacy from #COP26. ???? That would be the impact of La… [Source]

• 31 Oct 2021: Tweet

  ???? COP 26 EDINBURGH SOUTH MANIFESTO PUBLISHED ???? I'm delighted to publish our local manifesto. Over the last few months I have been pulling together experts with local people in virtual meetings to discuss and debate climate change. Download it here: https://www.ianmurraymp.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/98/2021/10/Edinburgh-South-Climate-Manifesto-FINAL-FINAL.pdf https://x.com/IanMurrayMP/status/1454828892343132169/photo/1 [Source]

• 31 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @edsouthsub: As #COP26 starts in Glasgow how about letting the #EdSouthSub to be a #NetZeroHero easily connected to the excellent electr… [Source]

• 29 Oct 2021: Tweet

  Really enjoyed the #COP26 engagement with the pupils @GracemountPS this morning. What brilliant questions about their ideas and aspirations to save our planet. What a job headteacher Mr Dimeck and his team do at the school. Well done everyone. https://x.com/IanMurrayMP/status/1454076811374120967/photo/1 [Source]

• 29 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @COP26: "Staying below 1.5 degrees is the only chance we have of avoiding these tipping points and stabilising our world again" Hear fr… [Source]

• 24 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @ScottishTUC: COP 26: Global Day of Action 11:30am-5:00pm on Saturday 6 November 2021 Climate, jobs, justice - bring your banners! The… [Source]

• 26 Sep 2021: Tweet

  RT @ScottishLabour: ???????????????????????????? Scotland can lead a green energy revolution that puts jobs first. ????‍♂️ Our plan for an Energy Transition Comm… [Source]

• 17 Sep 2021: Tweet

  Climate change cannot afford both the U.K. and Scottish governments facing both ways, especially with COP26 in Glasgow around the corner. My column for @edinburghpaper https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/the-scottish-government-is-not-taking-climate-change-seriously-ian-murray-mp-3384525 [Source]

• 8 Sep 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  There is no money going into social care, but we will leave that for a different time. Last week, Labour’s shadow team visited Orkney and its European Marine Energy Centre. It has facilities such as the most powerful tidal turbine in the world, which results in its having excess energy that it cannot get back to the mainland. At the same time, the Scottish and UK Governments are backing the Cambo oilfield. With COP26 coming to Scotland, should the Secretary of State not lead by example, refuse Cambo and reform the outdated transmission charge regime while providing funding for a new large-capacity interconnector between Orkney and Shetland and the mainland? That would bring huge benefits and innovation to the islands and power large parts of Scotland from renewable resources.

  Full debate: Strength of the Union

• 06 Sep 2021: Tweet

  My visit to Orkney and ⁦@EMEC_Ltd⁩ shows that we have the tools to make COP26 a global game changer but we need the political will. https://x.com/IanMurrayMP/status/1434990550164332547/video/1 [Source]

• 04 Sep 2021: Tweet

  Really fabulous to visit @EMEC_Ltd in Orkney to see their world leading renewable energy tidal projects. Orkney is leading the world but we need both governments to resolve outdated regulatory & other hurdles to ensure the U.K. becomes a world leader. COP26 is a huge opportunity. https://x.com/IanMurrayMP/status/1434084934436675595/photo/1 [Source]

• 22 Jul 2021: Tweet

  What an opportunity for Scotland to make Glasgow the byword for sorting the climate change crisis. COP26 is an opportunity the world can’t miss. My column for the @edinburghpaper https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/how-glasgow-can-become-a-byword-for-saving-the-planet-ian-murray-mp-3317135 [Source]

• 15 Jun 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  The Opposition supported the order when it was considered both in the House and in the Scottish Parliament, but I have a number of questions. One of the key things for the ESS is to ensure that the laws that the EU used to impose on the country for the benefit of environmental protection are the minimum standard in the future and not the ceiling under which standards can be reduced. The Minister is right that Scotland has a rich environmental heritage that must be protected and enhanced, and the ESS must ensure that. Of course, we also have COP26 coming up in Glasgow, which will probably be the last opportunity for the planet to be saved when major leaders come together to reach not just agreement and targets, but action points. Would it not be great if the lexicon of environmental and climate change vocabulary included not just Kyoto, Copenhagen and Paris but Glasgow, which became the byword for climate change? We must ensure that.

  Full debate: Draft UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 (Consequential Provisio...

• 07 Jun 2021: Vote

  Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill — New Clause 1 - Human Rights Abuses - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 26 May 2021: Vote

  Environment Bill — New Clause 24 - Prohibition on burning of peat in upland areas - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 23 Apr 2021: Tweet

  RT @AnasSarwar: In the midst of a climate emergency, we can’t take our eye off the ball. Climate action is at the heart of our National Rec… [Source]

• 08 Apr 2021: Tweet

  RT @AnasSarwar: ???? Today I visited Scottish Power's training site as part of the launch of Green Labour. As we prepare for COP26 in Glasgow… [Source]

• 29 Mar 2021: Tweet

  RT @Ed_Miliband: We cannot let COP26 come and go as a photo op for Boris Johnson. It's the best chance we've got to deliver the change we n… [Source]

• 22 Mar 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  We need to concentrate now on a national covid recovery plan. We need an NHS recovery. All those people who have missed out on treatments for cancer and other illnesses need to get their treatments and diagnoses. We need that to be at the forefront of everything we do post the next election. We need an education catch-up for all the kids that have been left behind. The education system, and the NHS, were in a poor place before the pandemic and are in an even worse place now. We need a jobs and business recovery. Scotland’s economy was in a bad place before the pandemic and is in an even worse place now. We need a climate recovery. All those wonderful climate targets that the Scottish Government set—it is great to set targets—will not be met. We were in a dreadful place with regard to climate targets before the pandemic, and we are in an even worse place now. We need a community recovery; we have a housing crisis and local services starved of cash, with billions taken from local council budgets. That was in a bad place before the pandemic, so we need a recovery now.

  Full debate: Scottish Independence Referendum

• 17 Mar 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  We could have been having a debate about COP26 and climate change, but no.

  Full debate: Scotland: General Election and Constitutional Future

• 18 Feb 2021: Tweet

  RT @AnasSarwar: We must seize the opportunity of Glasgow hosting #COP26. Come along this Sat at 3pm where I'm chairing a panel and Q&A even… [Source]

• 21 Jan 2021: Tweet

  More progress in the last 12 hours than in the last 4 years. COP26 in Glasgow is a real opportunity to tackle the climate emergency. https://twitter.com/ClimateAtState/status/1352030537012142081 [Source]

• 13 Jan 2021: Vote

  Financial Services Bill — Schedule 2 - Prudential regulation of FCA investment firms - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 16 Nov 2020: Vote

  Pension Schemes Bill [Lords] — Clause 124 - Climate change risk - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 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: No

• 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: Aye

• 06 Sep 2016: Vote

  Finance Bill — VAT on Installation of Energy Saving Materials - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 09 May 2016: Vote

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

• 14 Mar 2016: Vote

  Energy Bill [Lords] — New Clause 8 — Decarbonisation target range - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 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: Aye

• 10 Feb 2016: Parliamentary Speech

  Mr Speaker, I join you in congratulating Andy Murray and Kim Sears on the birth of their baby daughter. However, their baby daughter might be winning Wimbledon by the time we get a deal on the fiscal framework. The UK and Scottish Governments have now been negotiating it for more than six months, which is longer than it took to negotiate the Scotland Bill itself, longer than it took to strike the historic international climate change agreement and longer than it took the G20 leaders to negotiate $1.1 trillion of support for the global economy. It is clearly the indexation model that is contentious, so will the Secretary of State tell the House why he thinks the per capita index model is not appropriate for the indexation of the block grant?

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 26 Oct 2015: Vote

  Finance Bill (Ways and Means) (Payment of Corporation Tax) — Chapter 5 — Supplementary provisions - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 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: No

• 04 Dec 2013: Vote

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

• 3 Dec 2013: Parliamentary Speech

  That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for the setting of a decarbonisation target for the UK; and for connected purposes.

  It is incumbent on this House and every Member to ensure that future generations do better than the generation before. That is no truer than in the area of climate change and the significant impact it will have on communities in the UK and all over the world. We have seen in recent years a considerable rise in natural disasters caused by freak weather, none more so than the recent tragedy in the Philippines. We must not lose sight of the fact that the effects of climate change and high energy prices are felt most acutely by the poorest in our societies. That is why this House should take the opportunity to do all it can to ensure that we decarbonise our energy and make a contribution to addressing the deepening climate crisis.

  In the next decade, a quarter of Britain’s power stations are set to close and £200 billion-worth of investment is required to supply the UK’s energy needs. On this Government’s watch, however, there has been a collapse in clean energy investment. The much referred to independent analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows that investment in renewable energy has fallen dramatically since 2010: in 2009, investment in clean energy reached $11.06 billion; this year, investment is likely to be less than $3 billion, which is the lowest level since 2006. Some very high-profile projects have been cancelled or delayed that our energy generation and economy can ill afford to lose. Those figures should disturb any hon. Member who cares about clean and affordable energy.

  In October, a group of investors responsible for more than £1 trillion of investment worldwide wrote to the Government to argue that leaving a decarbonisation target out of the Energy Bill inhibits investment decisions and negatively impacts on the UK’s ability to attract the capital needed to update its “ageing infrastructure”. Aviva, one of the UK’s largest institutional investors, has said that a target must be set before 2016—the Government have implied that that will be the date—otherwise investment will be fundamentally affected.

  The Bill would set in legislation a decarbonisation target to give the energy generation sector the boost it requires by giving it the certainty to invest. That certainty is essential to the researchers and academics, spin-out companies and start-ups, in my constituency. Edinburgh South is home to the university of Edinburgh’s King’s Buildings, a base for pioneering low-carbon development that hosts industries, companies and the university’s world-leading low-carbon technology research and development centre. On regular visits to the campus, it has been made clear to me that future funding depends on a clear policy direction from this Government. I am introducing the Bill to launch my “Hit the target” campaign for decarbonisation.

  The Energy Bill has almost concluded its passage through the House, with Lords amendments being considered tomorrow. There has been a robust debate about putting a decarbonisation target into that Bill, and doing so would have shown strong commitment and leadership on this important issue. The target is not, however, just about showing strong leadership in the fight against climate change, but about developing a new and dynamic green economy that puts the UK at the forefront of low-carbon technology, so developing the skills and jobs of the future and diversifying the economy to ensure that it delivers for everyone.

  A clear decarbonisation target would help to stimulate green growth in the economy, tackle spiralling energy bills, improve energy security and, of course, reduce our carbon footprint. Not having my Bill might leave households even more vulnerable to completely unnecessary increases in their energy bills, and cause Britain to miss out on vital new clean energy jobs.

  I am grateful to hon. Members from across the House for supporting the Bill. Given such cross-party consensus and the fact that the Government want, at least in principle, to set a decarbonisation target, I cannot see why that should not be achieved. My Bill is intended to ensure that the target is put into primary legislation. It is simply not good enough for the Secretary of State—incidentally, he used to support this stance—to be given the power to set a target at some point after 2016, and for the legislation to state that he may, and I emphasise “may”, then decide to set a target.

  A decarbonisation target is supported by a wide range of experts, including hundreds of businesses, investors, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, faith groups, trade unions and, critically, energy companies, including SSE and EDF. They have clearly stated:

  Critically, decarbonising power is the gateway to the decarbonisation of other sectors. We can ill afford more of the Government indecision that we have witnessed on feed-in tariffs, which almost brought the industry for solar power crashing to its knees overnight.

  If we do not decarbonise the power sector, we have no hope of meeting our climate change targets. The Climate Change Act 2008, brought in by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition, committed the UK to a legally binding reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050. To meet the 2050 target, the influential Committee on Climate Change has since recommended that the power sector be decarbonised by 2030. In practice, that means reducing average emissions in power generation from 486g of CO 2 per kWh to 50g of CO 2 per kWh by 2030.

  The danger of missing our carbon targets was echoed by the Prime Minister in 2010, when he endorsed the decarbonisation of the electricity sector by 2030, and said:

  “If we don’t decarbonise electricity we’ve got no hope of meeting all the targets that we are all committed to.”

  The Bill has three key components: first, that a target will be set in 2014; secondly, that the target will be met by 2030; and, thirdly, taking advice from the Committee on Climate Change, that emissions will be reduced to between 50g CO 2 per kWh and 100g CO 2 per kWh. The Bill is very simple, but it clearly says that we will give investors certainty, that we care about climate change and jobs in the green economy, and that we want security of supply and cheaper and more efficient energy. Finally, my constituents want it to be implemented urgently, and the House should support the Bill.

  Full debate: Decarbonisation

• 9 Jul 2013: Parliamentary Speech

  T5. The Deputy Prime Minister said, in launching his party’s 2010 green manifesto, that the Tories“talk the talk on green issues only to align themselves with climate deniers”.Will he explain to the hundreds and hundreds of constituents who contacted me why he and his party voted against the decarbonisation target in the Energy Bill? ( 163808 )

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 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: Aye

• 04 Jun 2013: Vote

  Energy Bill — Clause 1 — Decarbonisation - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 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: Aye

• 19 Dec 2012: Vote

  Charities Act 2011 (Amendment) — Energy Bill - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 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: Aye

• 11 Jun 2012: Vote

  Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 21 Feb 2012: Parliamentary Speech

  I was about to come to that. I agree that that seems inherently contradictory, but the key fact about the Gangmasters Licensing Authority sitting in DEFRA is that it is there to do a particular job, which it is doing rather well. Moving the GLA from DEFRA to BIS would be putting it into a Department that is looking at deregulation and is running the red tape challenge. A previous Under-Secretary at BIS—now the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change—has made clear remarks about where the GLA should sit and what its function should be. Indeed, he initiated the Macdonald report, which recommended a light-touch regulatory approach. If the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the hon. Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon) commits the Department at least to examining the extension of the powers of the GLA, there might be an argument about which Department it would sit in, but my point is that in this particular confusion, DEFRA is the best place for the GLA to sit. Moving it to BIS would merely be an act of deregulation, rather than showing support for an organisation that is prone to be hugely successful.

  Full debate: Gangmasters Licensing Authority

• 14 Sep 2011: Vote

  Prime Minister — Clause 42 — Domestic energy efficient regulations - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 14 Sep 2011: Vote

  Prime Minister — Clause 42 — Domestic energy efficient regulations - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 14 Sep 2011: Vote

  Prime Minister — New Clause 1 — Energy efficiency aim - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 16 Feb 2011: Parliamentary Speech

  It is important to get across what is really going on here. In the context of the referendum, the Conservative party is being led like a lamb to the slaughter. The reality is that the referendum is entirely to do with Liberal party aspirations as expressed in the coalition agreement. I have here an extract from the right hon. Member for Deauville— [ Laughter. ] I meant the right hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr Laws), who might as well have come from Deauville. He quotes the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Eastleigh (Chris Huhne), as saying:

  Full debate: Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill