Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Shanks and Sarah Olney

Tuesday 6th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

I was delighted to meet my hon. Friend recently to talk about this exciting project in York and the wider developments that go alongside it. We see huge potential from geothermal. As she rightly says, how we structure these projects is important if we are to take them forward as quickly as possible. My noble Friend Lord Whitehead has a particular focus on geothermal, and I am sure that he will be very happy to meet my hon. Friend.

[Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)]

Mr Speaker,

“We owe it to future generations not just to have good environmental principles but to act on them. That is why I will be voting against the third runway at Heathrow”—

not my words, but the words of the Secretary of State in 2018. Given that Heathrow is already the biggest single source of carbon emissions in the UK, and that expansion will add an extra 8 to 9 megatonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, can the Secretary of State confirm that it is still his intention to vote against a third runway at Heathrow?