Heating Oil Prices: Rural Areas
Debate between Andrew Snowden and Robbie Moore(6 days, 8 hours ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Barker. I thank the hon. Member from the very north of the highlands, the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), for securing this important debate.
Those of us who own an oil tank have all been there: that dreaded moment when we stick the upside down broomstick into the tank and pray that there is more oil in there than we know there actually is, because we know that means that a big bill is coming. And we put it off—as I did once, which resulted in us running out of oil on Christmas eve. The only occasion forgotten less by my wife is the time I forgot to get the septic tank emptied and it exploded on the public footpath down the side of our house—that was great for my electoral prospects.
I am not alone in Fylde: nearly 10% of houses in my constituency are not connected to the national gas grid, and it is as high as 14% in areas such as Singleton and Greenhalgh.
Robbie Moore (Keighley and Ilkley) (Con)
In my constituency, a huge number of houses in the Worth valley are impacted by the lack of Government support with heating oil. Does my hon. Friend agree that there was a major missed opportunity in Labour’s Budget to look at the implications of reducing VAT on heating oil?
Mr Snowden
My hon. Friend makes a very good point. It was an opportunity missed.
There are 4,765 houses in my constituency alone that are not connected to the grid. In Fylde, 28% of people are over 65, compared with a national constituency average of about 18%. That means we are dealing not just with rural isolation and rural poverty, but with the health and wellbeing of older people. As other Members have said, households with oil tanks often have septic tanks and other infrastructure that is far more costly to operate and maintain than being connected to the grid in the traditional way. That compounds the issues that are being felt now.
As the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross said, the funding the Government set aside works out at £35 per house. The average price of oil has gone up by about £1 per litre and the average home uses about 2,000 litres of oil, meaning that support covers less than 2% of the cost increase facing the average household. Many of my constituents have made that point to me. I encourage the Government to move faster and find more ways of supporting those people who are reliant on oil to heat their home, as the bills they face will be crippling over the winter period.
Oil and Gas
Debate between Andrew Snowden and Robbie Moore(7 months, 2 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Robbie Moore (Keighley and Ilkley) (Con)
Time and again, we hear this Labour Government’s rhetoric about being pro-growth, pro-jobs and pro-economy. Despite these claims, they have continued to do the very opposite, as has been reiterated by Conservative Members. That is why I absolutely support the motion before us, in the name of the official Opposition.
It would be remiss of me to come to this debate on oil and gas and not speak about the impact that the war in the middle east is having on our business community, our manufacturers and our engineers. They are all experiencing a rise in energy costs, which are soaring, including our farmers and those in our rural communities. The price of red diesel is going up exponentially, and there is a huge amount of nervousness about supply and further increases in costs. To put this in context, the cost of red diesel was 67p a litre in February but has risen to about 135p a litre this month, impacting many in our farming community. I spoke to many of those farmers yesterday, and they made the point that we simply cannot talk about food security without talking about energy security. The two rely on each other and go hand in hand, and they need to be treated together, not as separate entities.
Mr Snowden
On Sunday, my son and I watched as the first fertiliser of the season started to be spread on the fields. It reminded me of the importance of the orders that are being placed now in the farming industry, the uncertainty that is being created—from fertiliser to diesel and so on—and the impact that it could have on the profitability of such businesses going forward.
Robbie Moore
That is absolutely right, and my hon. Friend makes an excellent point. There is an additional cash-flow pressure on many food producers, which is why it is absolutely crucial that we have an energy strategy, alongside a food security strategy, under this Government.
I will pick up on the point about the green transition that has been made by Labour Members, and refer specifically to a live example that is happening in my constituency: the Calderdale wind farm, which is going to be the largest wind farm development in England. It was initially proposed that 65 wind turbines would be built on Walshaw Moor, which neighbours my constituency.