Oral Answers to Questions

Jerome Mayhew Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

I am very happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss this issue, as I am always happy to meet Members from across the House. It is not for me as a Minister to decide the exact locations of substations, but I am happy to engage with her and to raise the issue with the relevant transmission owner.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Miatta Fahnbulleh)]

We are clear that energy is an everyday essential that everyone should have access to at affordable prices. We are also clear that, for too many people, energy is simply too expensive. That is why lowering bills for households and businesses is at the very heart of our agenda. That includes cutting VAT on electricity bills and removing £150 of costs to give people breathing space while we deliver the big changes that will get bills down for good: creating clean home-grown power to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets we do not control; devolving the warm homes plan so that we can upgrade millions of homes to get bills down; and putting the public back in control of an energy system that the Conservatives lost control over. Great British Energy will give our communities a stake in the energy we produce, Great British Energy Nuclear will put the public at the very heart of nuclear generation and Great British Grid will accelerate the build-out of grid infrastructure and connections. We have a plan to get our energy system to work for our community again, and we are absolutely committed to running at that plan.

[Jerome Mayhew]

Fuel prices are through the roof, but it is okay because the Prime Minister says that he gets it. He has tweeted,

“I won’t accept that there’s nothing I can do to help”,

and he has proved it by pointing to a forecourt price comparison app. What he did not mention was that his Government are adding VAT on top of those price increases. That is a windfall of £2 billion to £3 billion. If the Prime Minister gets it, why is he adding 20% to the misery of motorists?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ms Polly Billington)]

In fact, the fuel finder it is a good way of ensuring that people have the transparency that is required for the market to really work. The Competition and Markets Authority has found that, fundamentally, the market works competitively, but if anybody finds anything that they suspect to be price gouging, they should report it to the CMA. I would also like to point out that we have frozen fuel duty. Diesel, for example, is £11 cheaper than it would have been under the previous Government before 2024. It is important for Conservative Members to remember that we are doing what we can to bear down on the cost to the motorist and to ensure that the market works as transparently as possible.