Joy Morrissey MP: Climate Timeline

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Joy Morrissey's Climate-related Tweets, Speeches & Votes

We've found the following climate-related tweets, speeches & votes by Joy Morrissey

• 13 Feb 2025: Tweet

  RT @keith_bays: Britons face net zero ‘flight tax’ on summer holidays in ‘forced’ lifestyle changes ahead of carbon budget #GBNews #News… [Source]

• 11 Feb 2025: Parliamentary Speech

  We have also heard about the challenges in the highlands; I am sure that the Minister will be able to give further explanation about the plans and challenges for the highlands. Although they are producing renewable energy, and will probably produce even more, it will be interesting to see what capacity they will have.

  From what I am hearing, the hon. Member is making an anti-renewables, anti-action on climate change speech. She mentioned that electricity prices are some of the highest in Europe, but her party had been in government for 14 years when the Government inherited those high prices. Could you confirm on the record that you think it is the Conservative party’s position that all levies on bills to support renewables should be scrapped?

  I welcome the hon. Member’s contribution. It is wonderful to hear his commitment to the climate change emergency. We need to move forward as a country to make sure that our energy costs remain low. We did not commit to a £300 reduction in energy prices, nor did we commit to scrapping the winter fuel payment for pensioners. We went into the election without making those promises. I am simply holding the Government to account right now.

  I, too, would like some clarification from the Opposition. Is the hon. Member saying that renewable energy is a solution to lower energy bills and gets us to net zero, but that we do not really want it because it is too expensive? I was not quite clear whether her argument was for or against renewable energy. Could she clarify that?

  I apologise for arriving at the debate rather late, Mr Western. Needless to say, as a former Energy Minister, I take an interest in these matters. Anyone who shares that interest will understand that we need a mix of energy between renewables and non-renewables. Renewable energy has to be tested on the basis of whether it is cost-effective. Some renewables are and some are not; it is as simple as that.

  I am struggling with the argument of renewable energy not being cost-effective. For the cost of the amount of generation that Hinkley C would deliver, we could deliver twice as much renewable energy generation. The strike price for offshore wind is far below any other source of electricity. So I am at a loss—across every single form of renewable energy, the generation price is below that of fossil fuels.

  The hon. Lady talks about the previous Government being at the forefront of renewable energy generation, when they signed off new drilling licences for North sea oil. I feel I am living in cloud cuckoo land. There is no connection between what she is saying and the reality of market forces. Ask any wholesale energy price provider what their strike price is for renewables, and they will say that it is lower than for fossil fuels.

  The time has come to have a much more sensible and serious conversation about the true cost of renewable-based systems, not just repeating again and again that renewables are the cheapest form of energy. That is why the previous Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Surrey (Claire Coutinho), asked the Department to produce a full-system cost of renewable-based systems. If we are intent on decarbonising the entire grid by 2030, as the Government want, we must have a detailed assessment of what it will cost, and what it will do to our constituents’ energy bills and our already high industrial energy prices. Since taking office, however, the current Secretary of State has scrapped that work. He is rushing headlong into renewable-based systems, without any idea of what it will cost the country and the economy.

  More than anything, our heavy and manufacturing industries need cheap energy. They need stable and reliable energy, which does not rely on the whims of the weather. As with the shutting down of the UK oil and gas industry, seeing British industry move overseas will not change demand. It just means that domestic production—with all the tax revenue, British jobs and the investment that it brings—will be replaced by higher-carbon imports from abroad. Ministers say that decarbonisation cannot mean de-industrialisation, but if our industries, which are the hardest to decarbonise, cannot cope with the high cost of energy and therefore move abroad, that will be a disaster for our economy, devastating for our workers and their families, and will do nothing to reduce global emissions.

  Ministers say that they want us to be global leaders. They want us to convince other countries to decarbonise, which is a noble goal. Climate change is a global issue, and there is no sense in our going it alone to cut our emissions when we produce fewer than 1% of global emissions. That is exactly why the Government need to change tack and stop our industrial energy prices rising any further. Countries around the world, which care deeply about holding on to their industrial and manufacturing base, are looking to the UK and other western nations to see what happens next. If they look at us and see industries being gutted by a misguided energy policy and see our people suffering from higher and higher energy bills, they will not want to follow us down the path to decarbonisation. We will be a warning, not an example, to the rest of the world.

  Our ceramics, automotive, cement, steel, minerals, glass, aluminium and chemical industries need, above all else, cheap energy. I urge the Minister to talk to those businesses that are struggling with high energy costs and ask them what a carbon price of £147 per tonne of CO2 would do to their businesses. The Minister might not like the answer, but the Government need to face the consequences of their policies.

  The Government should be asking what arrangements will give us the cheapest, most reliable energy and how we get there. Instead, they are determined to decarbonise the grid by 2030 at any cost to meet a political target, even if that sends people’s bills through the roof, offshores our emissions to polluting countries and leaves us at the mercy of Chinese imports. When facing the electorate at the next election, they will not be able to say that they were not warned.

  Full debate: Cost of Energy

• 03 Feb 2025: Tweet

  This article gets to the heart of the Miliband net zero madness. He is making us all poorer and he doesn’t care. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/net-zero/ed-miliband-poses-grave-threat-britons-savings/ [Source]

• 30 Jan 2025: Parliamentary Speech

  I approach this session of business questions in that spirit. One innovation that would be very welcome would be a commitment from the Leader of the House to providing our dates for Opposition day debates, which we have still not received. Another extremely welcome innovation would be the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero finding time to reply to numerous letters sent by Opposition Members; perhaps the Leader of the House could persuade him to do so, but perhaps she would have more luck with the Chancellor.

  I welcome the hon. Member for Beaconsfield to business questions, on her birthday. I very much welcome working with her on the Modernisation Committee. I have found her contributions to be greatly valuable and enlightening, and I know she does a really good job as a Whip and a constituency MP, supporting colleagues across the House. Given her contribution today, she could perhaps give a few tips to the shadow Leader of the House, the right hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), when he returns, because she has taken a very business questions-style approach. I will follow up with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero if there are issues with correspondence.

  I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Greenhill primary school for its achievements in that regard. He is absolutely right that schools could do more to provide sustainable energy for themselves through Solar for Schools—a school in my constituency has embarked on that. The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero is keen on that issue, and I will ensure that he is updated.

  Full debate: Business of the House

• 29 Jan 2025: Tweet

  RT @Peston: Reeves: “There is no trade off between economic growth and net zero”. Hmmm [Source]

• 29 Jan 2025: Tweet

  RT @MerrynSW: Suddenly everyone is noticing the disaster that is Net Zero/high U.K. energy prices."The costs of energy permeate every econo… [Source]

• 25 Nov 2024: Tweet

  RT @ClaireCoutinho: Labour’s rush to decarbonise will mean a Made in China transition. Billions of pounds of taxpayers money and thousands… [Source]

• 21 Nov 2024: Tweet

  RT @johnredwood: Ed Miliband should not pledge the U.K. to give more money to help other countries with net zero policies when the governme… [Source]

• 15 Nov 2024: Tweet

  RT @MailOnline: ANDREW NEIL: Starmer wants to tell us what to eat, what to drive and how to heat our homes. His climate change obsession wi… [Source]

• 18 Oct 2024: Tweet

  RT @ClaireCoutinho: If the widespread burning of forests is part of the solution to climate change, then we need to ask what problem we are… [Source]

• 02 Oct 2024: Tweet

  RT @Telegraph: ???? Miliband’s net zero sprint risks destabilising the grid, warns EDF https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/01/milibands-net-zero-sprint-risks-destabilising-grid/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1727769624-1 [Source]

• 24 Sep 2024: Tweet

  Ed Miliband’s race to decarbonise the grid in 5 years, is a noble goal but lacks any notion of a plan - other than to wreck our oil and gas industry and build over the British countryside. It is detached from reality and is a dangerous experiment. It has one inevitable outcome.… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1838506398520389830

• 06 Sep 2024: Tweet

  RT @montie: Correct answer imo. Ed Miliband has religion on climate change. Even if China and India carry on polluting this govt will saddl… [Source]

• 02 Sep 2024: Tweet

  RT @afneil: In a grammatical dog’s breakfast of a letter Ed Miliband makes it clear he has no idea how to decarbonise the electricity grid… [Source]

• 29 Aug 2024: Tweet

  Yet again Miliband is blinded by ideology - wrecking jobs, our energy security and any chance of a deliverable transition to net zero. It’s socialism on steroids and the British public will pay with higher energy bills. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/08/29/miliband-north-sea-oil-fields-greenpeace/ [Source]

• 23 Aug 2024: Tweet

  Ed Miliband’s net zero world is becoming clearer. In his zealous pursuit of unachievable targets, no amount of destruction is enough. North Sea oil and gas industry destroyed. Family heating bills higher. Pensioners left without support through a cold winter. All while he gets to… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1826889127540715783

• 23 Aug 2024: Tweet

  RT @ClaireCoutinho: Instead of prioritising cheap energy, Ed Miliband is pursuing reckless net zero targets with no thoughts to the costs t… [Source]

• 30 Jul 2024: Tweet

  RT @GBNEWS: ‘Inventing a £22bn black hole while spending £8bn on green energy that won’t cut your bills and £11bn on overseas climate aid i… [Source]

• 29 Jul 2024: Tweet

  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/29/ftse-100-markets-latest-updates-rachel-reeves-interest-rate/ This Labour Government is making serious and potentially catastrophic decisions about our energy future. Our transition to net zero will need gas for sometime. Having stopped new North Sea licences in haste, the Chancellpr has today quietly launched a tax… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1818022691351474179

• 26 Jul 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  Is the shadow Minister not aware it is exactly that negative narrative from her party that has held us back on the path to net zero?

  This is now serious. It is serious because the Government are writing cheques that the British people cannot afford and Ministers will never have to pay; it is serious because they are betraying the trust of local communities; it serious because they are putting at risk our energy and food security at a time when both have never been more vital; and it is serious because those who will suffer for their net zero purity are working people. These are not plans for a clean energy superpower. They are plans for a weaker, poorer Britain.

  Full debate: Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower

• 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

• 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

• 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: Parliamentary Speech

  As we recover from the economic effects of the coronavirus, it is vital that we build back greener. Can my hon. Friend reassure me that he is backing the innovators who are working on decarbonising our automobile industry—companies such as Gridserve Sustainable Energy—and who can get their cutting- edge ideas on to the market, supporting green jobs along the way?

  Full debate: Automotive Sector: Environmentally Sustainable Recovery

• 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

• 05 Feb 2020: Vote

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