Middle East: Economic Update

Debate between Rachel Reeves and Gavin Robinson

Tuesday 24th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

We have introduced the cheaper fuel finder to ensure that my hon. Friend and, most crucially, his constituents have that information. People in France can already see the different prices of petrol at different filling stations on a map via an app or their sat-nav. That is where we will be in just a few weeks’ time once we have the technology working with those companies. The previous Government had 14 years to introduce something like that, and other countries have already done so while we went without. Having the fuel finder tool means that all our constituents can fill up at the cheapest cost.

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

I thank the Chancellor for recognising the disproportionate reliance on home heating oil in Northern Ireland, but the £17 million made available for half a million homes reliant on oil equates to £34 per household, and there is no data to target that support. There is £81 million available from the renewables obligation for electricity. We were told by the Prime Minister and the Northern Ireland Secretary that that could be targeted, yet Treasury officials are blocking that, so I ask her to look at that again.

The Chancellor has made a commitment not to restore the 5p duty on fuel, but could she also look at the rebate for red diesel to help support construction, transport, haulage and energy regeneration in our country to stimulate the parts of our economy that have a disproportionate reliance on it and have lost the support that they gravely need?

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for what he said about heating oil. Obviously, a disproportionate amount of support has gone to Northern Ireland, given its greater reliance on heating oil, and we encourage local authorities to target the money at those who need it most. At the same time, to ensure that everybody is supported, the Competition and Markets Authority is doing an urgent review to make sure that price gouging is not going on. We acted in a matter of days on heating oil, because that was the right thing to do.

When we froze fuel duty, we also took action on red diesel, but I am happy to ensure that the relevant Minister meets with the right hon. Gentleman to talk further about what needs to be done.

Spending Review 2025

Debate between Rachel Reeves and Gavin Robinson

Wednesday 11th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

My right hon. Friend is right. We are backing innovation, skills and infrastructure, because we are backing British business. We are also cutting red tape, as we did yesterday, when we took the Planning and Infrastructure Bill through the House, making it easier to get things built in Britain again. As we make the investments, we want those jobs to come to Britain, including in the energy sector, whether it is investment in small modular reactors, Sizewell C, carbon capture and storage or floating offshore wind. We will set out the industrial strategy in the next couple of weeks, in which we will have more to say about energy costs for business.

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

I thank the Chancellor for engaging productively in the discussions about sustainable budgets for Northern Ireland, for the willingness to negotiate further and for the recognition that our need levels should be met. I thank her for that engagement and for the allocations to Northern Ireland for specific community projects that have been advanced by us. She has chosen through this allocation to make a budget available for the redevelopment of Casement Park. She will know about the political nature of some of the concerns around that redevelopment, and that in all previous agreements in the Executive, these things have been advanced in a balanced and non-partisan way. This Government have chosen to step into this issue in an unbalanced and partisan way. As such, in making financial transactions capital available—£50 million over the course of the next spending period—I ask the Chancellor to ensure that where there is a need for investment in football, as there is, she returns to the Executive’s agreement of 2011 in a balanced and non-partisan way. I hope that she will not be found wanting.

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question and the way in which he has put it. I was pleased to be able to announce the settlement for Northern Ireland in today’s spending review, but also money through the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. He mentions Casement Park, and we have put £50 million in through this spending review. I will arrange for the right hon. Gentleman to meet either the Northern Ireland Secretary or a Minister from my Department to talk through what he wants to see.