Oral Answers to Questions

Geraint Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 1st May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Griffiths]

The hon. Lady just is not correct. The Government recognise the importance of the high street and the retail sector, which is why we have provided more than £18 million in dedicated funding. It is also why in the 2017 autumn Budget we announced measures worth £2.3 billion over five years to cut business rates and improve the system’s fairness, which will support the retail sector.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

19. What steps he is taking to ensure that investment in renewable energy contributes to the achievement of the 1.5° C global warming limit set out in the Paris climate change agreement.

[The Minister for Energy and Clean Growth (Claire Perry)]

The hon. Gentleman will know that investment in renewable energy is vital so that we can get towards our interim targets, as well as the 1.5° C target. With a combination of the binding statutory budgets, the investments we have made and some good policy design, we are cranking ahead with renewables. More than 30% of our energy came from renewables last year, and I am sure we will all celebrate the fact that just in the past month we went for 77 hours without coal contributing to our grid.

[Geraint Davies]

Satellite data shows that 5% of the methane produced by fracking is leaked through fugitive emissions. Given that methane is 86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in global warming terms, that makes fracking twice as bad for climate change as coal. Will the Minister commit not to proceed with fracking and to proceed with the Swansea bay tidal lagoon project to deliver on climate change?

[Claire Perry]

I think the hon. Gentleman has seen some of the same slides that I have seen, which show a hypothetical model put forward by some scientists. We are of course always concerned about fugitive methane emissions, and we will bear that in mind going forward.