Contributions
1,962 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDRiver PollutionMy Lords, cleaning up our rivers is a top priority. To tackle agricultural pollution, we are increasing regulatory compliance, reforming environmental land management schemes to…10 Nov 2025HANSARDRiver PollutionOn agricultural run-off pollution specifically, which the noble Baroness asked about, we are doubling the funding to the Environment Agency farm inspections and regulatory…10 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsDelivering lower bills and a secure energy supply for families and businesses is absolutely at the heart of what we are trying to achieve through these reforms, particularly with…04 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsThere are two aspects to this. There is the National Grid, and in Scotland there is ScottishPower. We also have the district network operators, so we have different levels of…04 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsWe need both. We need renewable energy—I have talked about including wind farms and solar, for example—but that baseload of nuclear power is also important. That is why we are…04 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsI thank my noble friend for the question. Nuclear energy is part of the Government’s strategy in order to have sufficient energy for this country and to move away from gas power…04 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsClearly, it is absolutely critical that we support families who struggle to pay their electricity bills. We do not want people to be cold in the winter. I am not aware of any…04 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsAs I have just said, the Government’s focus to bring down energy prices is moving away from reliance on fossil fuels, and I am sure the noble Lord is aware that oil is a fossil…04 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsMy noble friend asks about marginal pricing and refers to gas, because gas and electricity prices have been coupled together for many years. The market currently operates on the…04 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsAs I have said, one of our key priorities is to reduce bills for consumers, particularly for vulnerable customers. We will look at all aspects of how best to do that.04 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsMy Lords, the review of electricity markets arrangements has concluded. This Government have decided to retain a national electricity market pricing regime and have established a…04 Nov 2025HANSARDEnergy Market ReformsI just mentioned battery storage, so that is a very appropriate question from my noble friend. As I said, over the summer we announced our decision not to introduce zonal pricing…04 Nov 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillMy Lords, Amendments 208 and 231A, both tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Roborough, seek to remove Clause 90 and Schedule 6 from the Bill. These relate to Ramsar sites, as we have…03 Nov 2025HANSARDFishing and Coastal Growth FundThe noble Baroness mentioned the Brexit deal agreed by the previous Government, which provides de facto guarantees for EU boats to UK waters beyond 2026. What we have done is to…27 Oct 2025HANSARDFishing and Coastal Growth FundExports, whether that is of fish or in other parts of our food industry, are a really important part of how we can continue to grow the economy in this country and support both…27 Oct 2025HANSARDFishing and Coastal Growth FundClearly, one reason we want to do the EU reset and get an SPS agreement and a better working relationship with the EU is to ensure that we have the best economic growth we can…27 Oct 2025HANSARDFishing and Coastal Growth FundI do not see that this Government have “given away”. As I said earlier, we have secured additional funding, in addition to the spending settlement that the UK Government provide…27 Oct 2025HANSARDFishing and Coastal Growth FundThe kinds of issues that the noble Lord refers to are ones that the Fishing Minister is obviously aware of and will monitor, because we absolutely do not want to see illegal fish…27 Oct 2025HANSARDFishing and Coastal Growth FundThe noble Lord is absolutely right: overfishing has been a real problem and we absolutely need to ensure that it does not happen in the future and that the fishing quotas that are…27 Oct 2025HANSARDFishing and Coastal Growth FundThe funding is being allocated using the Barnett formula, which is the normal mechanism used by HM Treasury to determine funding for the devolved Governments. That is the…27 Oct 2025