Caroline Flint
Main Page: Caroline Flint (Labour - Don Valley)
Mr Davey
I am sure local authorities will look at that proposal, but the key thing is to ensure that our new, more stable and predictable regime supports the solar industry, as we believe it will. We need to ensure that the message goes out that the solar industry is back in business and on a sound footing. There will be many more solar installations compared with what happened under the solar installation regime we inherited from the Labour party.
Caroline Flint (Don Valley) (Lab)
Last week, just 900 installations took place and two thirds of businesses had empty order books, but my question is about the Government’s next round of cuts to solar, which is due on 1 July. Last night, the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker), tweeted:
“Having listened carefully to industry, we are looking at scope for pushing back a little the next proposed reduction in the #solar tariffs”.
The truth is that the Government have missed the deadline legally required to provide notice to Parliament for the next round of cuts to come into force. Is not the Government’s incompetence the real reason why they are backtracking?
Mr Davey
The right hon. Lady seems to think that we should not listen to the industry, but I do. We are considering tweaking the start date for the next tariff reduction—if we change it, it will be a tweak, not a massive change. She needs to understand that the changes that we have consulted on and are introducing will bring stability and mean that we have solar power for the many, not the few.
Caroline Flint
There will be laughs echoing outside the Chamber at the Secretary of State’s suggestion that the Government have been listening to the industry, but my question was about parliamentary procedure. Parliamentary procedure requires that due notice must be given in advance of the cuts being brought into force on 1 July. My understanding is that the Department has missed—legally—the deadline required. Will the Secretary of State therefore confirm whether the Department has missed the deadline required to give notice to Parliament? If it has, it is absolutely the truth that the Government cannot legally impose the cuts on 1 July. Why does the Secretary of State not just own up, end the uncertainty and commit to scrapping the next round of cuts on 1 July?
Mr Davey
The right hon. Lady started by saying that the industry will be laughing, but Paul Barwell, the chief executive of the Solar Trade Association, said in The Independent on 9 May 2012:
“The current 21p subsidy can actually give a return up to 10 per cent, tax-free, index-linked, for 25 years, making it one of the most attractive investments around.”
That is what the industry is saying. The Government will abide by all the procedures required by the House and lay the regulations when required.
Mr Davey
We are doing a huge amount, from the warm home discount to the push on collective switching. My hon. Friend will know that today’s figures on fuel poverty show a fall of 0.75 million, but we should not celebrate that because those figures are based on the current measure of fuel poverty. If they were recalculated using the methodology proposed by John Hills, the fuel poverty figures would stand still. There can be no room for complacency; we have to redouble our efforts to tackle fuel poverty.
Caroline Flint (Don Valley) (Lab)
This week, we learned that the Foreign Secretary—for whom I understand the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry) was once the chief of staff between elections, just to add to his biography which we are learning about today—does not think the Government are doing enough to support the low-carbon economy. I absolutely agree with him. We also learned that the Energy Secretary and the Business Secretary wrote back urging caution. It was bad enough when the Chancellor was talking down the green economy, but for him to be joined by the Energy Secretary absolutely beggars belief. Is not the Foreign Secretary right that unless Britain shows strong leadership on the green economy, there is no hope of securing international agreement on climate change?
Mr Davey
Unlike the right hon. Lady, I have read the letter from the Foreign Secretary and I wrote the letter to the Prime Minister. They are very positive about what we want to do on low carbon technologies and climate change in this country and abroad. We are leading the way.