Cost of Living

Debate between Anas Sarwar and Ed Davey

Wednesday 16th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Davey]

I will not give way, because I want to make some progress and address the Queen’s Speech.

We need to make dramatic changes to our energy policies in the longer term. The right hon. Member for Don Valley said, in a rather bizarre passage towards the end of her speech, that we were not really reforming the electricity market—but we are making the biggest reform of the electricity market since privatisation. It is the sort of reform that Labour Members failed to get their head around and failed to deliver, despite 13 years in power.

There are huge challenges for our electricity market, with 20% of our power plants coming offline during the next decade. There is an energy security issue. We will have to ensure that the infrastructure is brought forward in the most competitive way, otherwise there will be a big impact on bills. We will have to attract more than £110 billion of investment in a way that ensures that low-carbon technology can be introduced, so that we can meet our carbon budgets. That is a heck of a challenge, and this Government have developed the policies to meet it.

If we do not act now, we estimate that by the mid-2020s up to 2.5 million households will be affected by blackouts, costing the economy more than £100 million a year. Even without interruptions to supply, our consumers would be exposed to volatile global energy markets if we did not do anything. Wholesale energy costs already make up half of the average consumer bill. Last year, the winter gas price was 40% higher than the year before. That is the real reason why bills have been going up so dramatically. We have to act and make the strategic changes to tackle that issue.

Postal Services Bill

Debate between Anas Sarwar and Ed Davey

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

The commitment that I have given today is what the hon. Gentleman and his Select Committee were seeking. That is what I understood from his very well-informed remarks earlier. Now that he has intervened, let me tell him that his point about mobile vans is dealt with in Government amendment 5, which I hope we will get to. There are currently 39 such vans serving 240 communities, and Post Office Ltd has no plans to increase its fleet of vans. I hope that gives him some reassurance on his very detailed point.

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

Following on from the hon. Member for Northampton South (Mr Binley) in wanting to pin you down—the Minister that is, not you, Mr Evans—if the legal advice from civil servants is so clear, will the Minister publish it?

[Mr Davey]

The hon. Gentleman is a new Member of the House and he might know that there are various protocols on publishing legal advice.

Our policies on post offices will ensure that people will continue to see their local post office as the natural and convenient place to access Royal Mail products, and Royal Mail’s management continues to see the Post Office as its retail partner of choice. It is by attracting customers for all types of services that the Post Office will ensure its future success. With this Government’s funding and support, as laid out in our policy document, which sets out a whole range of ideas for new Government services, we will be able to achieve those objectives.

The new clause tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester is well intentioned and I have always been impressed by how he, the voice of Colchester, campaigns for his constituents, not least for important services such as local post offices. I hope that I have reassured him that his new clause is not needed to support our precious post office network.