PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Topical Questions - 6 January 2026 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

The affordability crisis is the No. 1 issue facing families across our country. That is why we have acted to take £150 of costs off bills for all families, with an additional £150 through the warm home discount for 6 million households this winter. Thanks to our decisions, last year was a record year for wind and solar power, and we have embarked on the biggest nuclear building programme for half a century. That is what it means to deliver on lower bills, good jobs and energy security.

Climate change made 2025 the UK’s hottest year on record and fuelled deadly extreme weather events across the globe. We know that every drop of oil and gas used makes those events more likely, so will the Secretary of State confirm how much more new oil and gas could be extracted via the tiebacks that the Government have decided to allow, despite the new oil and gas ban? When developers apply for permission for those tiebacks, will they be required to include scope 3 emissions in their environmental impact assessments?

I wish the hon. Lady a happy new year, but I find that question a bit churlish. We have produced a world-leading plan for the North sea, which combines the just transition—the just and prosperous transition—with environmental leadership, while keeping to our manifesto commitment not to issue new licences to explore new fields. It is absolutely right that we have tiebacks to ensure that existing oil and gas fields are kept open for their lifetime. Obviously, the North Sea Transition Authority will consult on the details of how that will work, but it is absolutely the right thing to do for jobs and the environment.

I congratulate Hackney council—Labour-led Hackney council—on the brilliant job it is doing on green energy. Unlike some who just talk about it, the council is actually delivering, and I congratulate it. I see Hackney as being at the forefront of our local power plan, which will be coming out in the coming months.

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

It is freezing cold outside, and people are worried about their energy bills, yet on top of all the other costs the Secretary of State has lumped on to people’s bills, it is reported that he is about to tax people with gas boilers to pay for people having heat pumps. Can he definitively rule this out for the rest of this Parliament: no new taxes on people heating their homes?

I can absolutely rule out that we are going to introduce new levies to the energy system in the warm homes plan. Those reports are complete nonsense. I can tell the shadow Secretary of State that the warm homes plan is going to turn the page on a decade of the Conservatives’ failure, because we are going to invest where they did not, we have a plan where they did not, we will have proper oversight and regulation where they did not, and we will tackle the cost of living crisis they caused—

Order. Secretary of State, we are on topicals. I know you want to get carried away, but, please, the new year does not allow for it.

The rumours are that the Secretary of State is pitching himself to be the next Chancellor. He did not rule out taxes on people heating their homes for this Parliament, he is shutting down the North sea, there is a disastrous EU energy deal and a secret deal with China, the industry is fleeing in its droves and energy bills have risen five times on his watch. Does this not show that he has to be the only person in the country who could do a worse job than the current Chancellor?

Dear, oh dear, oh dear. What can I say to that, Mr Speaker?

Nothing! [Laughter.]

Don’t tempt me, Mr Speaker—don’t tempt me!

I want to briefly make one point. In the warm homes plan, which will come soon, we will be making £15 billion of public investment to help people cut their bills. The Conservatives can oppose that if they like, but I think it will be supported across the country, because they were an absolute failure on energy efficiency and all of that, and we are going to succeed.

Network companies have benefited in the past, but Ofgem has moved to correct that in the RIIO-3 price control period so that it cannot happen again. We are working with Ofgem every single day to ensure that we bear down on the costs of energy and that consumers benefit from cheaper bills as quickly as possible.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

Brexit excluded us from the EU’s internal energy market, costing the UK a huge £350 million annually. Will the Secretary of State confirm how he will accelerate progress towards the UK-EU internal electricity trading agreement to bring down costs and ensure energy security in these volatile times?

The hon. Lady makes an important point, which is that we need to make sure we take advantage of co-operating with our European neighbours. One way we can do that is the internal electricity market, and we will be negotiating on that basis. We will obviously look at the costs and benefits for the UK, but anything we can do to lower costs, lower bills and co-operate with our European neighbours to our advantage is what we should be doing.

It sounds like a really interesting project. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that there are huge opportunities. Opportunities abound when it comes to co-operation with our near neighbours and across the world to help our energy security, deliver clean power and bring down bills.

The hon. Lady asks an important question. As part of the warm homes plan, we are putting in an additional £1.5 billion of public investment and replacing the ECO scheme, which I am afraid had failed in a number of different ways—no disrespect to some of the installers. That will be designed to help bridge the transition for companies like the one that Andrew runs.

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the work of the Brockmoor Energy and Environment Scheme. I met Richard Parker recently, and I hope to come and see some of these projects myself in the future. We will soon publish the warm homes plan, which will set out further plans to support such projects, but we have already allocated £1.8 billion to local authorities and social housing providers through the warm homes local grant, and the warm homes social housing fund.

The hon. Gentleman is wrong, if he listened to my answer earlier, because actually bills across 2025 were lower than in 2024. He should welcome our measures to cut bills by £150, but I am afraid that those on his Front Bench do not support us.

That is exactly the work we are looking at as part of the local power plan. As my hon. Friend points out, we are determined to unlock much more community-owned energy, to make it as easy as possible for communities to connect to the grid, and for these projects to deliver not just clean energy, but real social and economic benefits for communities. We will publish the local power plan very soon.

We are genuinely excited about any new technologies that come forward, so we are very interested in innovation like that. We need a real mix of technologies to achieve our target, so I am very happy to find out more about that. I am just trying to work out whether I can somehow get a visit to space to see these projects.

We are really excited about the University of York’s work to develop deep geothermal heat, and we believe that greater cost efficiencies can be achieved by sequencing projects, especially when it comes to hiring the drilling rig and equipment. How are the Government driving efficiencies in deep geothermal heat, so that future developments, such as that in York Central, are more viable?

I was delighted to meet my hon. Friend recently to talk about this exciting project in York and the wider developments that go alongside it. We see huge potential from geothermal. As she rightly says, how we structure these projects is important if we are to take them forward as quickly as possible. My noble Friend Lord Whitehead has a particular focus on geothermal, and I am sure that he will be very happy to meet my hon. Friend.

Mr Speaker,

“We owe it to future generations not just to have good environmental principles but to act on them. That is why I will be voting against the third runway at Heathrow”—

not my words, but the words of the Secretary of State in 2018. Given that Heathrow is already the biggest single source of carbon emissions in the UK, and that expansion will add an extra 8 to 9 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, can the Secretary of State confirm that it is still his intention to vote against a third runway at Heathrow?

The Secretary of State regularly meets Cabinet colleagues about these issues. This Government are absolutely clear that any expansion of Heathrow must be compatible with our legally binding carbon budgets and net zero targets. We are committed to ensuring that the economic benefits of airport expansions are delivered in line with our environmental and climate objectives.

Blackpool and The Fylde college has excellent courses that are training young people in the area in use of the vital renewable energy equipment that we need to go forward, but there are no jobs for those young people locally. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how we can create those jobs? He is welcome any time to come to a sunny and slightly chilly Blackpool to see those students and the excellent work that they are doing.

My hon. Friend is a brilliant advocate for his constituency, and indeed for Blackpool. I would be very happy to meet him to talk about how we can ensure that the jobs that those young people want come to Blackpool.

In Hinckley and Burbage, if you look one way, you can see the rooftops of lots of logistics businesses, because we are the heart of the logistics sector; looking the other way, to Barlestone and Nailstone, you see agricultural land that has been turned into solar farms. My constituents rightly ask why we cannot have more solar panels on commercial properties. What conversations is the Department having with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that that is a possibility?

The hon. Gentleman is right: we should have many, many more solar panels on rooftops. We agree with him on that. I met the UK Warehousing Association recently to look at some of the technical difficulties around ownership and insurance. We want to do whatever we can to unlock the potential, because we have rooftops across the country that can play a huge part in helping us to achieve our clean power mission.

Once the political situation is stabilised in Venezuela and foreign companies can be enticed to invest somewhere between £100 billion and £200 billion there, it will take emergency repairs, workforce modernisation and retraining and many more things to get the infrastructure and industry in Venezuela up to historical peak capacity. That could take up until 2040. Is it not easier and speedier for the UK to invest in home-grown renewables and nuclear, so that we can guarantee energy independence, and get off the fossil fuel rollercoaster—

Order. This is topicals. Members must be brief.

Yes; my hon. Friend is entirely right. Home-grown clean power is what will give us energy security.

An estimated 50,000 diesel-powered transport refrigeration units operate across the UK, consuming around 235 million litres of fuel annually. These generators emit up to 400 times as many particles as truck exhausts do. High-emitting diesel engines face no real regulation and create a significant burden on the NHS and the environment, but there is a solution. Zero-emission renewable transport refrigeration technologies are commercially available and being manufactured in the UK today. Government intervention would help. Will the Secretary of State come and see the fantastic work of Sunswap, which is championing this technology in my constituency, and can he—

Order. We are doing topicals, and that is definitely not a topical.

Having slightly strayed into the area of the Department for Education earlier, I think it best that I stay out of the area of the Department for Transport. I will, however, ensure that the question is passed on to the relevant Ministers for a response.

My hometown of Worthing is already delivering a major heat network, but it is not yet designated as a heat network zone. Could the Minister please consider making this designation at the earliest possible opportunity, and ensuring that grid capacity supports early designation for advanced schemes?

Heat networks are crucial to future decarbonisation. I would be more than happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that in detail.

Pozitive Energy is a supplier to businesses in my constituency. It has provided inaccurate contracts and bills to customers, and has tried to bill them for premises that they do not occupy. It has disconnected customers from the electricity supply without notice, and fraudulently sent electricity bills for a meter that it disconnected. Now Pozitive Energy is demanding payment of the standing charge for a meter. Will the Secretary of State investigate rogue suppliers, and advise on how we will protect customers?

If the hon. Member sends me the details, I would be more than happy to look into it. That would be a matter for Ofgem, but there is also recourse available through the Energy Ombudsman.

I am delighted that we are investing in more rooftop solar. GB Energy supports the deployment of rooftop solar on schools and hospitals in my constituency, and the Government are taking up my proposal that it be a requirement to have it on all new housing, but how can we make sure that we are not missing out on the opportunity to use other rooftops, from those on car parks to those on commercial warehouses?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We need a mix of technologies to achieve our clean power targets, and rooftops are an obvious place to use. I think there is broad consensus about how much we can use rooftops, even from those who disagree with other measures. GBE has invested to bring down bills for public institutions, including schools and hospitals, but we want to see much more solar on car parks and warehouses—everywhere we can possibly have it.

Happy new year, Mr Speaker. This weekend, 4,600 properties in my constituency had their gas supply cut off, on the coldest weekend of the year. I commend Wales & West Utilities, which worked tirelessly to get people reconnected, but its efforts have been hampered by the inability to communicate effectively with residents, as it does not have a direct relationship with its customers. It has had to rely on social media, which is not great in an area with lots of elderly people. We have also been hampered by the high number of second homes, as engineers have not been able to gain access to those properties. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how providers such as Wales & West Utilities can communicate with households—

Order. I think the Minister has got the idea.

I thank the hon. Lady for engaging with me over the weekend on this issue. I am genuinely sorry that there are still so many customers who are not connected. The engineers are doing a fantastic job, but as she rightly says, the challenge is that they cannot reconnect until households are present to disconnect. That is causing significant problems, but they are doing everything they can. I am very happy to discuss this further.

Bracknell Forest council has submitted a bid to the Heat Networks Delivery Unit for a feasibility study on a district heat network that would stretch across our town centre. Does the Minister agree that such schemes can support local businesses and residents in cutting emissions and bills?

My hon. Friend will have heard me say earlier how important heat networks are to decarbonisation. They will play such an important role in providing energy across our country in future. I am more than happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that.

In November last year, the Energy Secretary and his entourage attended COP30 in Brazil. That was an event where a rainforest was chopped down so that the Energy Secretary could talk about saving rainforests. Does he understand the hypocrisy of it all?

I do not understand the hon. Gentleman, if I am honest. The truth is that he would give up on young people. He would sell them down the river, as he would today’s generation, the future generation, and all generations to come. I do not think that is a very good platform to stand on.

Some 25% of the houses in my constituency were built before 1900. They are expensive to heat and very difficult to insulate. When will there be a bespoke plan for insulating those properties, using the right materials, and, crucially, for the insulation to be installed by specialists?

I have had very constructive conversations with the hon. Member about this. The warm homes plan will be published soon, and we will have something to say in that.

Happy new year to you and your team, Mr Speaker. It was a happy start to the new year, because we learned that in 2025, more renewable energy was generated in this country than at any time on record. That was driven by growth in solar in particular. Will my right hon. Friend make it a new year’s resolution that the Government will continue to drive that growth forward, and will surpass that amount in 2026?

Absolutely. This is about delivering what we promised when we were elected: home-grown clean power, so that we can get bills down, create jobs, get energy security and, crucially, do the right thing for future generations.

Almost a year ago, the Housing and Planning Minister and I had a wonderful discussion about my sunshine Bill, which would require all new homes to include solar panels on their roof. I understand that the Government are on the cusp of making an announcement about that. Can we be reassured that this will be the year when we finally force all developers to make us have nice, green energy on our roofs?

I enjoyed being part of the hon. Gentleman’s sunshine debate. I have been excited to work closely with the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, who is with us in the Chamber, and we look forward to the future homes standards coming shortly.

Southampton is Europe’s leading cruise port and the second-biggest container terminal in the country. Our industry stands ready to invest millions in decarbonisation, but that is being held up by grid constraints at the Nursling supply point. Will the Minister meet me and local industry leaders to see how we can unlock the obvious environmental and economic benefits that this change would bring?

Our team would be happy to meet my hon. Friend. That question, and so many others, shows the huge opportunities arising from home-grown, clean power, including in fantastic Southampton.

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In response to my question about whether bills in April 2026 will be lower than in July 2024, the Secretary of State claimed that they would be. However, the price cap would suggest otherwise: it was £1,568 in July 2024 and is projected to be £1,620 in April 2026. Can you advise on how the House can seek a correction of the record?

You have certainly put that on the record. We are not going to continue the debate unless the Secretary of State wants to respond, which I doubt.

The Secretary of State does.

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I am happy to respond, because we are going to deal in the facts. Bills were lower in 2025 than in 2024 in real terms, and the price cap was lower—and, of course, making a seasonal comparison makes no sense. We are going to trade in the facts.

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I asked the Secretary of State a direct question about his former statements and how they conflict with current Government policy. Would you agree that the Secretary of State should have directly answered me?

I do not have an opinion, and I am not responsible for that, but you have certainly got that on the record.