Oral Answers to Questions

Noah Law Excerpts

Tuesday 6th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

I know that my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy has had discussions with the hon. Member for Horsham (John Milne), and it is important that we have those discussions with Members. One of the important things for this year—it is slightly for the trainspotters, or energy-spotters—is the strategic spatial energy plan, which will set out a pathway for where we need power in the coming years well beyond 2030. As part of that, we should definitely be looking at where in the country are the right places to put the power we need.

[Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay) (Lab)]

9. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending the warm home discount on levels of fuel poverty.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)]

Happy new year to you, Mr Speaker, and to other hon. Members.

I am proud that the Labour Government have extended the warm home discount to an extra 2.7 million households, extending the total to around 6 million. The Conservatives opposed that change. It will make a vital difference to so many families this winter, including approximately an additional 220,000 households in the south-west. That is almost double the number of households supported year on year.

[Noah Law]

I greatly welcome these cuts to forthcoming bills. Notwithstanding those potential improvements, many of my constituents in Roche, for example, live in areas not connected to the mains gas grid, and the initial outlay associated with implementing renewable technologies can be prohibitively expensive for people. Can the scope of the warm homes plan be extended so that areas rich in geological resources but exposed to fuel poverty, such as Roche, can benefit from geothermal heat networks and significantly reduce bills on the back of those cheap renewable sources?