Layla Moran MP: Climate Timeline

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Layla Moran's Climate-related Tweets, Speeches & Votes

We've found the following climate-related tweets, speeches & votes by Layla Moran

• 19 Jul 2024: Tweet

  Local councils are on the front line of the climate crisis in our communities. The govt spoke about local people having a say in their plans for net zero. I asked the Minister whether he agrees that the best way for local voices to be heard is through our local councils. https://twitter.com/LaylaMoran/status/1814216157714379159/video/1 [Source]

• 28 Jun 2024: Tweet

  Climate change is the biggest existential threat we are facing, and yet, the Tories seem to be set on taking us backwards in our progress towards net zero. The Lib Dems would prioritise insulating homes up and down the country, improving energy efficiency and lowering bills. https://twitter.com/LaylaMoran/status/1806711813850956095/video/1 [Source]

• 21 Apr 2024: Tweet

  Tackling climate change is the right thing to do and has market benefits. In the dwindling days of a govt with no ideas, Sunak's rowing back on climate ambition may be another attempt at a wedge issue. Ultimately future generations will suffer from this short-sightedness. https://twitter.com/LaylaMoran/status/1782039155179925589/video/1 [Source]

• 21 Apr 2024: Tweet

  While it's important to engage with those who disagree, as a former Physics teacher I'll always stand up for the science. Tackling climate change means investing in new technologies, driving innovation. Failing to take the risk seriously would simply be catastrophic. https://twitter.com/LaylaMoran/status/1781987215926600042/video/1 [Source]

• 12 Apr 2024: Tweet

  As an organic farm, we discussed soil quality and biodiversity in farming. I was told we need to think about putting back as well as taking out. British farmers are vital in tackling climate change and protecting the environment so they need proper funding and support. [Source]

• 19 Jan 2024: Tweet

  Great to see the launch of Oxford's new electric bus network, making it one of the UK’s leading cities for zero-emission travel. Oxford now has more electric buses per capita than London, providing a greener, cleaner city for us to live in. https://twitter.com/AndrewGant3/status/1746829037777899548 [Source]

• 20 Oct 2023: Tweet

  I am so proud of Lib Dem run Oxfordshire County Council being top of Climate Emergency UK’s 2023 climate action scorecard. Their hard work and commitment to net zero in Oxfordshire sets an example which the Govt should follow. https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxfordshire-tops-the-table-for-county-councils-tackling-climate-change/ [Source]

• 27 Sep 2023: Tweet

  RT @itvpeston: “We saw them last week row back on commitments towards Net Zero, this is another nail in that coffin. You cannot trust the C… [Source]

• 13 Sep 2023: Tweet

  ???? I'm proud to support #BackBritishFarmingDay. Farmers play a vital role in tackling climate change, enhancing the environment and providing high-quality food. So thank you to all the wonderful, hard-working farmers in Oxfordshire and across Britain! https://twitter.com/LaylaMoran/status/1701921171531338176/photo/1 [Source]

• 07 Sep 2023: Tweet

  The dither and delay from govt over Horizon Europe prevented scientists from cooperating on everything from tackling climate change to curing cancer. We should have never left the scheme and I'm glad the Govt has finally decided to re-join. ???? Speaking to @LBCNews earlier https://twitter.com/LaylaMoran/status/1699852657421070338/video/1 [Source]

• 26 Jul 2023: Tweet

  @emilysmithLD @NFUBerksBucksOx We also met with @CherwellCollect to see if more can be done on the climate emergency, whether HMOs are the right solution for the housing crisis, and whether the PR9 developers could be persuaded to work together to reduce flood risk to Yarnton village. [Source]

• 17 Apr 2023: Parliamentary Speech

  Much as this important Bill is geeky and technical—it sounds like it will be an interesting Bill Committee —it integrates into our whole lives. People have spoken about the potential and progress, and I agree to an extent with the comment from the hon. Member for Aberconwy (Robin Millar) about this being the new oil. However, in the context of climate change, there is a lesson for us there. Imagine that we knew then what we know now. We can already see that here. As new as some of these technologies are, and as new as some of these challenges may be, it does feel like, as legislators, we are constantly playing catch-up with this stuff.

  Full debate: Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill

• 17 Apr 2023: Tweet

  RT @PTylerLords: Once again leading the environment, energy & climate change movement in Parliament = special congratulations to Cornwall's… [Source]

• 21 Mar 2023: Tweet

  RT @KHayhoe: Here are the big takeaways from the @IPCC_CH Synthesis Report released today. First, climate change has already caused wides… [Source]

• 17 Nov 2022: Tweet

  RT @FreedomForAlaa: It's hard to capture the power of this moment: #COP27 delegates who may not have known Alaa's name a few weeks ago, cha… [Source]

• 07 Nov 2022: Tweet

  RT @ReutersAfrica: Hunger striker's sister flies in to Egypt COP27 to campaign for his release https://t.co/ThtbeKZFej https://t.co/kzmxAmS… [Source]

• 02 Nov 2022: Tweet

  RT @sana2: Alaa just drank his last cup of tea in prison. Starting today he's on zero calorie strike. In 5 days, as #COP27 starts, he will… [Source]

• 26 Oct 2022: Tweet

  The govt has clearly forgotten that we are in a climate crisis as well as an economic one. Yesterday, they pushed through the retained EU law bill, threatening to strike down vital environmental protections in an attack on nature. ???? Watch my contribution to the debate here: https://x.com/LaylaMoran/status/1585266912728072192/video/1 [Source]

• 25 Oct 2022: Parliamentary Speech

  Environmental protection is top of my constituents’ list of concerns—I remind the Prime Minister that we are also in a climate crisis, as well as an economic one. The RSPB has described the potential revocation of environmental laws in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs policy space as “an attack on nature” and has expressed particular concern about the regulation of air and water quality, and the prevention of pollution. Ruth Chambers, a senior fellow at Greener UK, a coalition of conservation groups, has said that the Government are

  Full debate: Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

• 19 Oct 2022: Vote

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

• 07 Sep 2022: Tweet

  Cabinet appointments: The person in charge of climate is a climate change sceptic, the person in charge of migration is anti-immigration, and the person in charge of our NHS doesn’t believe in abortion. This is the Conservative party in 2022. #GeneralElectionNow [Source]

• 24 Jan 2022: Parliamentary Speech

  Tonga may be a long way away, but it is a Commonwealth partner and ally and a long-standing friend. The Tongan high commissioner has asked me to convey their thanks to the British people for their support. I hear what the Minister says, but she will know that none of the money going to Tonga is new. Why have we not promised any new bilateral aid, since we have not given them a penny this year? Does she regret the decision to cut aid to our Commonwealth partners more generally by £500 million, and does she accept that the aid cut leaves us responding to disasters such as this with one hand tied behind our back? Under our presidency of COP26, attention was rightly given to the vulnerability of small island developing states such as Tonga. Does she agree that unless we help Tonga to recover fully from this crisis, it will struggle to put in place the necessary mitigations for the even greater climate crisis?

  Tonga and the UK have deep historical ties and are both Commonwealth members. Tonga is a low-lying state, extremely vulnerable to climate change impacts, as the hon. Lady points out, and to natural disasters. We are working with other Commonwealth members, including Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, to support Tonga as it recovers from this damage. It is absolutely right that we should work hand in hand with our partners.

  I acknowledge what the Minister has outlined about the aid that has been requested and is on its way to Tonga, but we really must reassess the cuts that have been made, particularly to the emergency disaster relief fund—from £500 million to £35.4 million. We cannot do more with less, and under this Administration we have seen a deliberate and wilful cutting of capacity to deal with climate change, international development and emergency responses. I urge that we continue our long-term engagement with Tonga and the wider world, and get those budgets back up to the levels they need to be at for the challenges ahead.

  We remain a world leader in international development. In 2020, we were the world’s third largest donor. We have rightly been looking at how that aid is best used, which is why during the conference of the parties and in the run up to it, we announced that more funding from the UK would go towards international climate change. That is particularly important for supporting small island developing states in their adaptation and resilience programmes. It is also why it is so important that we work towards delivery of the $100 billion climate finance goal. In Glasgow we also announced the global goal on adaptation and the Glasgow dialogue on loss and damage, and that will help better coordinate financial support when there are extreme impacts such as this. We are leading in our work on climate change through COP and through our ODA.

  Full debate: Tonga: Volcano Eruption and Tsunami

• 18 Jan 2022: Parliamentary Speech

  The hon. Lady mentions Gazprom and how the UK is in hock to such gas producers from outside the UK. If we cast our minds back, do we not see that a mistake of George Osborne’s penny-pinching, bean-counting style of five, six or seven years ago was his reluctance to use the climate change levy to invest in renewables to make us less dependent on energy from overseas and give us more renewable capacity, which could have been built here? For the sake of a few pennies, it was his argument—I disputed it at the time, when I was the Chair of the Energy and Climate Change Committee—that we should not do so. Now the customers of the UK are on the hook for hundreds and hundreds of pounds each and every year.

  Fundamentally—this comes to the point that the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Angus Brendan MacNeil) made—in the long term we need to wean this country, and indeed the entire world, off gas and oil altogether as soon as possible. That is why the answer to this problem is not to cut investment in green energy, as some have suggested. Whether it comes into general taxation or there is another way to fund it—that is the conversation that needs to be had—we need to increase investment in renewable energy, because to protect people now we need to think strategically in the medium and long term. The answer is to end our dependency on rogue states and protect the poorest in our communities.

  Full debate: Gas and Electricity Costs

• 13 Nov 2021: Tweet

  As we near the end of #COP26, how can we trust our Government to do what's best for the whole planet when we can't even trust them to do what's best for our rivers? At last Saturday's COP26 rally in Oxford, I talked about my campaign to clean up the Thames. https://x.com/LaylaMoran/status/1459453529983176705/video/1 [Source]

• 08 Nov 2021: Tweet

  Parliament should be focused on vital issues like #COP26. Instead, this government has attempted to drive a coach and horses through the standards process for MPs, and faith in our democracy itself. Time to clean up our politics so we can put the issues facing the country first. https://x.com/LaylaMoran/status/1457760852153569285/video/1 [Source]

• 06 Nov 2021: Tweet

  RT @hedgehoghugh: Really lovely to see so many people turn out for #ClimateCrisis march in #Oxford today - we can't all be at #COP26 but th… [Source]

• 01 Nov 2021: Tweet

  This budget failed to make the statement needed as we begin #COP26 — that this Government takes climate change seriously, including by electrifying East-West rail. Instead, they are incentivising polluting short-haul flights. WATCH ????: https://x.com/LaylaMoran/status/1455282281950728192/video/1 [Source]

• 31 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @LibDems: Today is the start of #COP26 , which could well be our last chance to take substantive action on the Climate Crisis. Liberal… [Source]

• 27 Oct 2021: Tweet

  ????Investment in green transport to tackle climate change, including electrifying East West Rail and building community paths for cycling and walking, such as on the B4044. ????‍⚕️Urgent funding for local adult and children's social care provision, to avoid any council tax rise. (3/6) [Source]

• 21 Oct 2021: Tweet

  RT @AbCarbonCutters: Q&A on #COP26 : https://t.co/v9gYRjhULc Abingdon’s youth were represented in our Q&A with @LaylaMoran and @neilfawce… [Source]

• 25 Sep 2021: Tweet

  Boris Johnson has undermined his government’s efforts ahead of COP26 by pushing ahead with these cruel cuts. It's ruinous to our global reputation, right when we need to be persuading low and middle income countries to cut emissions. https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/uk-cuts-climate-aid-by-100m-and-halves-funding-to-countries-most-exposed-to-global-warming-despite-pm-promise-1217700 [Source]

• 30 Jun 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  The ink will dry on the PhDs that will be written about what happened in that seat, but the point I am trying to get across to the Government is that this matters. This is not just about the spending on one project here or there. It is the moral thing to do and it is the smart thing to do, but it is also the right thing to do, not just for the country but for their seats. People in those areas understand the interplay. They understand the link. They understand that if we want to sit proudly on the world stage and lead at COP26 but say to other countries across the world, “Do as we say, but don’t look at what we do,” then we are going to lose credibility. I urge the Government: please do not be complacent. Give us our vote, or even better, give us the assurance that 0.7% will return next year—no ifs, no buts.

  Full debate: Official Development Assistance and the British Council

• 8 Jun 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  There is also a cost to the UK’s global reputation. How on earth are we to convince developing nations at COP26 to trust our leadership at the most pivotal climate change summit in a generation when in the same breath we have undermined our credibility with them? This is a Government who say one thing and do another, who cannot be trusted, and who behave in a way that is so fundamentally un-British that it makes me feel ashamed.

  Full debate: 0.7% Official Development Assistance Target

• 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

• 24 Feb 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  I wish to take this opportunity to thank the incredibly hard-working staff at the Environment Agency for everything they have done and continue to do in our community. They do what they can with the funding and resourcing that they have been given. We do not need to hear from the Minister how much money is being spent nationally and how with limited budgets we have to prioritise certain places, because, bluntly, that is not going to help my community. I want to hear from the Minister how the Government plan to help the people of Abingdon, Yarnton, Begbroke and South Hinksey. Climate change means that flooding events are going to become only more frequent and more extreme, and every time they come, anxiety rises. What can we do to give people a sense of relief?

  To conclude, the coronavirus pandemic has been awful. We have all had to make incredible sacrifices, but that will be just a dress rehearsal for the ongoing climate emergency. We can either act proactively and future-proof our communities against flood devastation, by doing what we can sooner in Oxford, funding the Abingdon scheme, and fixing the agency’s approach in Yarnton and other villages, or we can wait until it is too late, react desperately after the fact, and see more and more homes damaged and people’s lives ruined.

  Full debate: Oxford West and Abingdon: Flooding

• 28 Jan 2021: Parliamentary Speech

  The consequences of that are far-reaching. It means that more children will be forced into child marriage or child labour. It may also mean more children permanently dropping out of education altogether. It is one of the great injustices of our times, and there will not be a vaccine that will immediately fix it. In the year when the UK has the presidency of the G7, we are also hosting COP26. The eyes of the world are looking to us to lead. The Foreign Secretary has said that girls’ education is a core priority for the Government. That is a laudable aim and one that I fully support. The thing is, though, the official development assistance allocations released on Tuesday paint a slightly different picture. The Government’s proposed cut in aid to 0.5% of gross national income, counter to their manifesto promises, comes on top of a year-on-year decline in the share of aid budget allocated to education.

  The UK must lead in the creation of the global education plan. The fact that so far nothing has been pledged, despite our hosting that summit in the summer, flies in the face of the Government’s own policies. I urge our country to pledge the £600 million to the Global Partnership for Education, as suggested by the Send My Friend to School campaign. There is, of course, the climate crisis and the two are linked. Many studies have shown that investing in education is one of the best ways of tackling the climate crisis. There is no better way for us to make a difference in this world than investing in education, and I urge the Government to do exactly that today.

  Full debate: UN International Day of Education

• 13 Jan 2021: Vote

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

• 30 Dec 2020: Tweet

  RT @NS_Spotlight: This year, we have published op-eds by MPs on everything from climate change to cyber security. Here is a selection of th… [Source]

• 13 Dec 2020: Tweet

  RT @OxHRF: Great turnout at yesterday's "Can the UK lead on Climate Change? CEE Bill and our future." online discussion by @CEEbill_NOW! Th… [Source]

• 08 Dec 2020: Vote

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

• 18 Nov 2020: Tweet

  Great thread from @LibDems climate change spokesperson @sarahjolney1 on Govt’s 10-point plan.???? https://t.co/OaL14bqxb0 [Source]

• 16 Nov 2020: Vote

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

• 06 Nov 2020: Tweet

  We need global leadership to defeat coronavirus, fight climate change and secure the freedoms we hold dear. I hope the UK Govt will immediately work to make that happen with the incoming administration. (4/4) [Source]

• 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

• 02 Sep 2020: Tweet

  RT @LibDemWhips: Coronavirus, Climate Change...it has never been more important to understand that we all share one planet and it is in our… [Source]

• 05 Feb 2020: Vote

  Transport - Pro-climate vote: Aye - Their vote: Aye

• 11 Jun 2019: Parliamentary Speech

  8. With reference to the report entitled, “Net Zero: The UK’s contribution to stopping global warming”, published by the Committee on Climate Change on 2 May 2019, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Government’s greenhouse gas emissions targets. ( 911250 )

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

  Out of the mouths of babes—but not all of them are learning about climate change. Will the Minister work with the Department for Education to ensure that all children, including those at key stages 1 and 2, learn about this incredibly important matter?

  Full debate: Oral Answers to Questions

• 16 May 2019: Parliamentary Speech

  If we cannot afford that process, let alone the full alleviation scheme, I am concerned that the disasters of previous years are destined to repeat themselves. That is to do with the geography of the Thames valley, which is the largest unprotected floodplain in the whole United Kingdom—I was shocked to discover that. Everywhere else has something, but the Thames valley, which includes all of us here, does not. This discussion is therefore urgent. It is not simply a case of, “I want to do what’s best for my community,” although of course I do as an MP, because there is a bigger issue: what will we do in the face of climate change for the Thames valley, which is itself completely unprotected?

  I want to talk briefly about climate change. The head of the Environment Agency, Emma Howard Boyd, gave a stark warning on flooding when the agency published its 50-year flood risk plan earlier this month. The UK needs to tackle our climate emergency head on; otherwise, our communities will face devastating consequences. I find myself puzzled, however. Surely more needs to be done to mitigate the environmental impact of the construction phase of these works. Constituents have raised their concern that the works on the Oxford flood alleviation scheme themselves are not green. This is not just about pollution; it is also about new planting, particularly of ash trees. Can the Minister assure us that the carbon footprint of the mitigation is also being factored into the equation?

  The story of flood mitigation in Oxford West and Abingdon continues. We are all aware that we will never be able to fully protect against flooding, but there is much that we can do to mitigate risk. I firmly believe that part of the answer lies in actively involving residents and helping cash-strapped, resource-stretched local councils to find the funding and solutions that they need. These flood alleviation schemes will be vital, and they are long overdue, but they need help. Today, I call on the Government to please provide the funding necessary to get the Abingdon flood alleviation scheme off the ground and to ensure that the Oxford flood alleviation scheme is arrived at as swiftly and responsibly as possible. In the longer term, we need action to protect the whole Thames valley and to tackle climate change nationally and internationally. I appreciate that those will be no small feats, but I hope that they lie at the heart of the Minister’s Department and in her heart, too. I very much look forward to hearing what she has to say.

  Full debate: Flooding: Oxford West and Abingdon

• 28 Feb 2019: Parliamentary Speech

  That this House has considered the UK’s progress toward net zero carbon emissions.

  I could not agree more. Climate change, as those young people were saying, is the biggest issue facing our planet, and in 2018 extreme weather hit every populated continent, killing, injuring and displacing millions, and causing major economic damage.

  I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this debate. Does it not show how dysfunctional our politics have become that this is the first debate on climate change for two years? We are dysfunctional in the face of the biggest political challenge of our times. We are obsessed with Brexit, but we should be spending our time discussing this issue.

  Indeed, and September 2016 was the last time that we debated climate change in the Chamber, which is shameful.

  The hon. Lady makes an excellent point. Does she agree that there is no time left for delay, and that the Government need urgently to show that they are serious about tackling climate change, and enshrine in law net zero carbon emissions by 2050? That is a clear strategy that we can all get behind.

  The hon. Lady hits the nail on the head. We need to move faster and deeper. This is a climate emergency, and this place must stop taking as little interest in it as it has been doing.

  I will make a little progress, if I may. Today’s debate could not be more urgent. Leading climate scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have warned that unless we take urgent action we have just 12 years before global warming rises above the maximum limit of 1.5°. After that, the risk of droughts, floods and extreme heat increases significantly. Just last week, the independent Committee on Climate Change warned that the UK would struggle to meet its own—not-ambitious-enough, frankly—binding targets on climate change unless the Government act to greatly reduce emissions from buildings, while the UK’s most polluting sector, transport, saw no reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2017.

  Who doesn’t like AOC? She’s fantastic. The green new deal was something we started when my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Sir Edward Davey) was Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, but that has now been removed from the Cabinet. That is an example of how the Government do not take this seriously enough—there is now not a Cabinet member whose sole purpose is to talk about climate change. It is not good enough. So my first question to the Minister is: are we planning to have a net zero emissions target for the UK, and if so when? I understand that the current target is 80% by 2050, which is not good enough.

  Does the hon. Lady regret that in government the Liberal Democrats oversaw the scrapping of the Department of Energy and Climate Change—

  I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. The intervention she just took was wrong on every count. It was the Conservatives who got rid of the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the zero carbon homes allowance; and the green deal, the carbon capture and storage experiments—I could go on—whereas the Liberal Democrats have a proud record. Under us and our policies, carbon emissions fell dramatically.

  So where do we go from here? The COP24 summit in Katowice, where countries settled most elements of the rulebook for implementing the 2015 Paris agreement, did not go far enough. I have been contacted by non-governmental organisations, the Climate Coalition, Green Alliance and the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association, and they are all disappointed by the lack of forceful language and ambitious pledges to come of out COP24. Not enough was agreed.

  I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this debate. Does she welcome the fact that, as the PricewaterhouseCoopers report states, the UK has decarbonised faster than any other G20 country and has decreased its emissions by 29% in the last decade alone? It is a British success story, but there is a lot more to do.

  Here we are, and our aim must be that these students need not strike again. I must insert an element of party politics, however, because it is important to remember the now all but forgotten promise of the greenest Government ever. As my right hon. Friend rightly says, this Government have cut so much. The Conservatives alone have not been forcing this through in the way they should. What happened to the carbon targets? What happened to renewable energy? We have not had the progress we need. The Government have effectively banned onshore wind, which is the cheapest form of renewable energy, all while pursuing an ideological obsession with fracking and overriding the views of local communities who have rejected it. These policies make it crystal clear that the Government are not serious enough about cutting emissions. We must demand better for our environment and our planet.

  We must take inspiration from our own communities, where local political parties seem to be coming together. The Liberal Democrats on Vale of White Horse Council put forward a motion that was passed almost unanimously. Oxford Council unanimously passed a Green amendment declaring a climate emergency. The same is happening in towns and cities across the country.

  All in all, we need a new type of economy—one that is sustainable and which embeds the issues of the day at its heart. We must consider implementing radical financial changes, such as moving to a circular economy, as advocated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, using a carbon tax and dividend to use market forces to reduce emissions quickly. We should implement rewards for companies that demonstrate green investment and for pension funds that take pains to divest. We should reward companies that take this issue to their hearts, but I do not yet see the radical change that is needed.

  Full debate: Net Zero Carbon Emissions: UK’s Progress

  That this House has considered the UK’s progress toward net zero carbon emissions.

  Full debate: Net Zero Carbon Emissions: UK’s Progress

• 11 Jan 2019: Parliamentary Speech

  Crucially, there is a huge amount of peer-reviewed evidence showing that when Governments choose to invest money in additional road capacity, although in the short term there may well be an alleviation effect, the long-term impact is more traffic, more pollution and higher carbon dioxide emissions, at a time when we should be bearing down on all those things. However, when Governments choose to invest in public transport, the result is the opposite. At the very least, the Government should have given equal consideration to all the other approaches first before making this decision. If they are looking to achieve the best long-term value for taxpayers’ money and are committed to switching from the car to other forms of transport, this is their chance.

  Full debate: Oxford to Cambridge Expressway

• 12 Jul 2017: Parliamentary Speech

  My former profession was physics teaching, so if I may be indulged, I would like to explain why nuclear fusion is so important. While fission is the splitting up of large isotopes to create smaller ones, releasing energy, fusion is the joining up of smaller ones to create large ones, also creating energy—and what is amazing is that the base material is water. When we are done with it, the end products have barely any decay half-lives. It is an extraordinary technology, and—make no mistake—if we get it right, it is as scientifically significant as sending a man to the moon. It could solve climate change completely, because water is essentially an inexhaustible material. I would like to make the case for that, because I think it has been forgotten. Humanity needs that technology—I do not think I am overstating it—and it is vital we get it going.

  Full debate: Euratom Membership