Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Caroline Lucas

Tuesday 6th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

T3. Last week, the International Monetary Fund joined many others in urging the Chancellor to prioritise public spending and investment above tax cuts. Rather than seeking to appease his Back Benchers with tax cuts in the next Budget, will he finally deliver the level of public investment this country is crying out for, including in a nationwide energy efficiency programme that would shield households from volatile gas prices, get their fuel bills down for the long term and create jobs? Or is he yet another one who is running scared of green investment?

[Jeremy Hunt]

I am sure the hon. Lady understands that I cannot talk about what will be in the Budget ahead of the Budget because no decisions have been made. I celebrate with her that the UK recently became the first major economy in the world to decarbonise by more than 50%, ahead of France, Germany, Japan and the United States.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Caroline Lucas

Tuesday 5th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that issue. I actually had a breakfast with clean energy industry representatives this morning to discuss their concerns. There is a huge amount of potential investment, and he is right to say that maximising the use of our own oil and gas reserves during transition is a vital part of our energy security policy.

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

Will the Chancellor consider introducing a windfall tax on banks’ excess profits? The profits of the big four banks for the first half of this year were up 700% compared with 2020, yet the Bank of England is forecast to pay out as much as £42 billion in interest on reserves to banks in 2023, at the same time as the Government have cut the level of surcharge on banks’ profits by 60%.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Caroline Lucas

Tuesday 20th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

We will certainly do that. I know that the 75% discount we announced for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will make an enormous difference to businesses in Gloucester, as will the £2.5 billion annual discount in business rates overall as we make the transition to the new system.

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

A very Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker.

With oil and gas companies making grotesque profits from high global prices, it is beyond belief that the Chancellor does not scrap the so-called investment allowance announced in the autumn statement, which means that companies are still able to claim £91.40 in tax relief for every £100 invested in oil and gas infrastructure. Will he now come clean about the cost to the taxpayer of this perverse and utterly unjustified subsidy?

Autumn Statement

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Caroline Lucas

Thursday 17th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

My hon. Friend has campaigned hard for East West Rail and I am happy to confirm that, as a result of the difficult decisions that we have taken today in the round, it will proceed. It will make an enormous difference to our country, because of the connectivity that it will provide between two of the greatest universities in the world. It is a very important step forward for the country. With regard to the extension of VED to electric cars, which we are doing at the point at which half of all cars sales in the UK will be of electric cars, it asks people who have electric cars for £165 a year. Given that we have spent £2.5 billion on electric car charging points, I do not think that that is an unreasonable request.

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

The Chancellor said that he would be honest about the challenges we face, so it is frankly extraordinary that he could speak for almost an hour without once acknowledging the economic catastrophe of Brexit. According to the OBR, it will slash productivity by 4%; it has delivered a 15% drop in trade; there will be a 14% drop in investment; it will increase food prices by 6%; and it will deliver lower wages, workforce shortages and the highest inflation in the G7. When will he name the elephant in the room? When will he start to address that and reverse some of the damage that it is doing?

[Jeremy Hunt]

I do not deny for one second that Brexit will be a change in our economic model, but whether we make a success of it is up to us. This Government will make a success of it and make it a tremendous opportunity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Caroline Lucas

Tuesday 15th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

Let me just say to my right hon. Friend that he and I both agree on the vital responsibility of any Government to defend their shores and their peoples, and we are committed to doing what it takes to make sure we do that.

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

In a letter to the Chancellor last week, Lord Deben, the chair of the Climate Change Committee, said clearly that demand reduction is “now the biggest gap” in UK energy policy. Will Thursday’s autumn statement include an emergency investment of at least £3.6 billion over the course of this Parliament, so we can finally roll out the long-awaited and very overdue home insulation programme that this country needs?

[Jeremy Hunt]

Lord Deben speaks extremely wisely on environmental and climate change issues, and we would always take what he says with the utmost seriousness.

Economic Update

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Caroline Lucas

Monday 17th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

This is an issue that has raised its head in my own constituency. Let me simply say to my hon. Friend that the Government’s position is clear: we will not proceed unless there is local support.

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

In the bonfire of Government policy that has just taken place, the Chancellor was not very specific about what would happen to the Prime Minister’s investment zones policy. Personally, I was hoping that it would be incinerated as well, not least because it is designed to undermine environmental regulation, to avoid fair taxation and to bypass local democracy. In the past, he has said that he is a green Tory. I have to put it to him that that is sadly an endangered species right now, but if he is serious about being a green Tory, will he now take steps to demonstrate it by ruling out any policies that will undermine nature protection and restoration, and will he accept there is no financial capital that is not entirely dependent on a thriving natural capital?

[Jeremy Hunt]

I am absolutely committed to protecting our green spaces and boosting biodiversity, but I also think it is important to look at environmental regulations to see if they can be streamlined in a way that is consistent with allowing the natural world to flourish as well as the economy.

COP26: Limiting Global Temperature Rises

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Caroline Lucas

Thursday 21st October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Lucas]

Absolutely. Leading by example is crucial: we have to walk the talk.

[Jeremy Hunt (South West Surrey) (Con)]

No one questions the hon. Lady’s commitment on these issues, but is it not a bit unfair to criticise the Government for a lack of concrete action when, for example, the proportion of electricity generated by coal has fallen, since 2013, from 40% to less than 2%? That is a real change. When it comes to looking forward, a number of new technologies are still necessary if we are going to avoid the climate tipping point. Does she agree that investment in science and technology is going to be a crucial part of the mix?

[Caroline Lucas]

The right hon. Member is absolutely right. The power sector is the one sector that is going faster than the others, and that is an area where we can have a greater amount of confidence. My colleague, the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse), did just whisper to me, “Thanks to the Lib Dems when they were in coalition Government”. It is also of course to do with some of the big changes made some time ago under Margaret Thatcher—we would not necessarily say that they were done for the right reasons and in the right way, but they certainly did get emissions down—and I do pay tribute for that particular part of the equation.

On science and technology, yes, of course they are going to have a massive role to play, but so too is Government changing the policy framework within which decisions are made. The difference between some of us on this side of the House and those on the right hon. Gentleman’s side is that, all too often, it sounds as though Conservative Members are imagining we can continue with business as usual but, with some technology, just changing the technologies we are using to deliver that business as usual. What we recognise is that we need not just behaviour change, but systems change. We need to change the kind of economic system we have, which is a far bigger change than what we have been talking about so far.