Simon Hoare MP: Climate Timeline

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Simon Hoare's Climate-related Tweets, Speeches & Votes

We've found the following climate-related tweets, speeches & votes by Simon Hoare

• 24 Jan 2025: Parliamentary Speech

  Which radical Stalinist am I quoting? From which Guardian -writing journalist am I purloining phrases? Well, it is that dangerous leftie herself: Margaret Thatcher. The first quote is from her United Nations speech in 1989; her views, and the views of my party, are formed by science and the facts, with her basic university training at Somerville College, Oxford. The second quote was from the second world climate conference, after she had left office in 1990. I say to Conservatives today that we would still be well advised to heed her caution, her advice and her words.

  Full debate: Climate and Nature Bill

• 24 Jan 2025: Parliamentary Speech

  I say to the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) in response to his intervention, again echoing the hon. Member for Norwich South, that of course we must have growth, but too often the didacts from both sides of the debate say that it is either/or: we can either have a biodiverse natural environment and address climate change, or we can have growth, but we cannot have both. Well, it depends first on what type and kind of policies we pursue when addressing CO 2 emissions and the drive to net zero, but also on what type of growth one has. It must be a legitimate anxiety, but I am pretty confident that many people who elected the Labour party into government believed that they would get that fact: that the definition of “growth” needed to be reset in order to meet the challenges that we now face.

  On our coastline, there are places that are built below sea level—one thinks of Canvey Island—so this is not just something that is happening elsewhere, about which we should be slightly anxious but not at all concerned. Rising sea levels and other changes will affect us here at home as well. We need to be careful in our consideration of that. For those who claim a driving concern about the need to control immigration, I say in all sincerity that I do not believe that one can divorce from that addressing the changes to our planet that climate change is introducing, as it will be a major spur for fellow members of our species to pack up their belongings, meagre or otherwise, and try to find a place of safety for themselves and their families, where they are able to grow a bit of food and sustain their lifestyles, meagre as they may be.

  I thank my Dorset neighbour for giving way. As always, I find myself agreeing with a lot of what he says, not least on the cost of inaction being far greater than the cost of action. He makes many good points about the fact that we have outsourced our carbon emissions to places far away, but does he agree that we often fail to sell the opportunities around tackling climate change, especially for British businesses, such as those provided by tidal and wave technologies? We should celebrate those opportunities. The Government talk about growth; there is so much opportunity for growth in this sector, and we should do more.

  I rarely need much encouragement. The hon. Member is making an impassioned speech about the fact that this country has led, and it can continue to lead in this area. He talked about hard power. Does he agree with me and my Liberal Democrat colleagues that if our country is to be better than just assembling parts, we need urgently to rip up the red tape that is stopping so many of our home-grown manufacturers building the climate technology of the future because of the trade barriers that exist with our EU neighbours?

  Full debate: Climate and Nature Bill

• 16 Apr 2024: Parliamentary Speech

  I think we occasionally underplay our power to convene. We can convene all sorts of public or private meetings in our constituencies and invite people, either on a select list or via open invitation. I have done something very similar on environmental and climate change issues: I issued an open invitation and a whole raft of people in my constituency came, across the age groups. They certainly improved my knowledge and understanding of the issues. I hope also to hear, from the political perspective, some of the checks and balances and some of the challenges that the democratic process throws up.

  Full debate: Citizens’ Assemblies and Local Democracy

• 07 Mar 2024: Tweet

  RT @DBTInvestment: Brilliant news from @Jeremy_Hunt and @AstraZeneca on their £450m investment for a net zero facility to manufacture vacci… [Source]

• 13 Dec 2023: Tweet

  RT @BBCBreaking: Standing ovation at COP28 as almost 200 countries agree for the first time to transition away from fossil fuels https://t… [Source]

• 02 Dec 2023: Tweet

  RT @RishiSunak: For more than 60 years, His Majesty has been at the forefront of the fight to protect our planet. Today at #COP28 we’re c… [Source]

• 27 Sep 2023: Tweet

  You will be missed hugely. I know you will continue to be an international standard bearer in combating the climate emergency @AlokSharma_RDG https://twitter.com/aloksharma_rdg/status/1706735070281634214 [Source]

• 26 Aug 2023: Tweet

  RT @theresecoffey: Our Peat Action Plan restores nature and tackles climate change ????Twelve new projects receive £16 million to restore peat… [Source]

• 15 Jun 2023: Tweet

  This is good news for homeowners, the environment and the Climate Emergency https://t.co/ItkzbMmXrs [Source]

• 07 Nov 2022: Tweet

  RT @AlokSharma_RDG: Great to have @RishiSunak at #COP27 on the first day of the World Leaders Summit ???????? ???????? As part of ???????? continued leader… [Source]

• 07 Nov 2022: Tweet

  RT @Steven_Swinford: Boris Johnson takes aim at net zero critics in his own party who think target needs to be delayed, want to reopen coal… [Source]

• 02 Nov 2022: Tweet

  RT @RishiSunak: There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewa… [Source]

• 19 Oct 2022: Vote

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

• 05 Oct 2022: Tweet

  RT @BBCNews: King Charles should attend climate summit, COP26 president says https://t.co/SzBBCCCgDo [Source]

• 03 Aug 2022: Tweet

  RT @Ready4Rishi: ????????????????????'???? ???????????????? for ????????????????????????????: ???? Freeports ????️ M4 relief road ???? Thousands of jobs in green energy and nuclear ???? Delivery of… [Source]

• 07 Jun 2022: Tweet

  RT @mayadcan: I am hosting a youth climate conference tonight at 6PM via zoom with @Dorset_CAN, it will be a great opportunity for young pe… [Source]

• 26 Jan 2022: Tweet

  RT @COP26: Over the course of our #COP26 Presidency year, the UK will work tirelessly to keep the world on track to deliver the #GlasgowCli… [Source]

• 08 Jan 2022: Tweet

  RT @CSkidmoreUK: Will be on @Channel4News this evening speaking to @cathynewman about the newly formed Net Zero Support Group of Conservati… [Source]

• 13 Dec 2021: Vote

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

• 02 Nov 2021: Tweet

  RT @BorisJohnson: The whole United Kingdom is leading the fight against climate change. Together we welcomed the world to Glasgow for @COP… [Source]

• 07 Jun 2021: Vote

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

• 26 May 2021: Vote

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

• 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: 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: No

• 13 May 2020: Parliamentary Speech

  (f) the management of land, water or livestock in a way that mitigates or adapts to climate change;

  New clause 14— Carbon emissions: net-zero and interim targets —

  (a) “net UK carbon account” shall have the meaning given in section 27 of the Climate Change Act 2008, and

  (b) “budgetary periods” and “carbon budgets” shall have the meaning given in section 4 of the Climate Change Act 2008.”

  This new clause would set a target of net-zero green-house gas emissions for agriculture and related land use in the UK by 2050 at the latest. It would place a duty on the Secretary of State to publish interim emissions reduction targets – and policy proposals to ensure those targets are met.

  At the very heart of this debate today is a very simple question, which the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) mentioned in his opening remarks. What kind of country do we want to be—one where farm standards are a pawn in a trade deal with our values traded for market access, or a nation that says Britain is a force for good in the world and upholds our high standards for food grown locally and food imported alike? At a time of climate crisis, we must choose to rebuild a better, greener, more sustainable and fairer Britain than we had before.

  Full debate: Agriculture Bill

• 05 Feb 2020: Vote

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

• 25 Jun 2019: Vote

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

• 19 Jun 2018: Parliamentary Speech

  Narwhals are significantly impacted by climate change. While I understand the need to make haste with elephants, narwhals face more than one threat, so it is important to agree to the amendment to include narwhals in the scope of the Bill.

  Full debate: Ivory Bill (Fifth sitting)

• 4 Jun 2018: Parliamentary Speech

  To state the blindingly obvious, we are no longer an imperial power that can send a gunboat to countries that we do not like, so that we can bully people into obeying. However, we can take our soft power and our leadership, and use them. If we wanted to find an example of where we had done that, we and some allies did it on climate change. We realised that there was an issue that needed to be addressed, and through Kyoto and other initiatives we got the world thinking collectively about climate change and the imperative of dealing with it in a proper way to safeguard humanity.

  Full debate: Fur Trade

• 06 Sep 2016: Vote

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

• 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

• 2 Feb 2016: Parliamentary Speech

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bailey. Given what the hon. Gentleman just said, I point out to him that as his party has a policy of achieving 100% renewable energy provision in Scotland, so much of it dependent on onshore and offshore wind, when the wind is not blowing there, Scotland—if it is independent—will have to come crawling to a country that will be setting a rate based on what it can sell on the market, rather than being generous. That is a hostage to fortune for any Scotland, future or past.

  Full debate: Energy BILL [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)

  The Minister confirmed this morning—we are absolutely right to keep to this regime—that an aggrieved applicant would still be able to trot off to the Planning Inspectorate to appeal a decision, in the same way as the Secretary of State will be able to recall an application that may have been determined favourably by the local planning authority. Again, both an aggrieved applicant and an aggrieved third party will still have recourse to the courts for a judicial review, but the wording of the national planning policy framework—I am afraid I do not have the paragraphs to hand—provides a strong and reliable crutch to the inspectorate. It says that national planning policy, such as decarbonisation and so on, will trump a number of the key topics that my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry was talking about: areas of outstanding natural beauty, sites of special scientific interest, heritage and listed buildings and so on.

  When it comes to the costs of balancing to account for the increased variability, which is a product of moving towards a more decarbonised and flexible energy system, gas is far, far more expensive than wind. For 2014-15, 7% of the costs of balancing the grid were due to payment to wind. In the equivalent year, the balancing costs associated with gas amounted to £240 million, which is five times as much as the costs associated with wind. So we need to bring some sense to the debate about what these technologies do and, in a sense, approach it—as I hope the Government still do—in a technology-neutral manner.

  Full debate: Energy BILL [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)

• 18 Jan 2016: Parliamentary Speech

  It is a pleasure to speak in support of the Second Reading of this Bill. Those of us who look for what could be described as a golden thread to run through UK energy policy probably look in vain, because, as we have heard in many speeches, it has broken down into many sectors, all trying to generate one particular commodity, but looking to different modes of generation in order to achieve it. The Government have to wrestle between tensions which other Members have referenced. There is tension in cost-effectiveness for large-scale users in industry as well for domestic users, and in trying to reduce demand through energy efficiency in new build and the type of refit that the hon. Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh) was talking about to try to address climate change, and to ensure, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) made clear, energy security. Security of supply has to be absolutely at the top of the tree. I believe that the Government and the Department wrestle with those often competing tensions on a daily basis, but clearly have security of supply at the top of their agenda as well, which is to be welcomed.

  When the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, my hon. Friend the Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom) considers the planning aspects of the Bill further, may I urge her to have a detailed conversation with her colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government about the national planning policy framework? In my life prior to becoming a Member of Parliament, I saw too many instances of an inspector and/or planning officers saying, “Yes, yes, we hear all the arguments and we understand that this is an area of outstanding natural beauty, but the presumption of planning policy set by the Government is that in principle this development should go ahead.”

  Full debate: Energy Bill [Lords]

• 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