Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Grant Excerpts

Wednesday 19th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

The ongoing work that the net zero strategy has set forward, which my right hon. Friend the Minister for Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change continues to work on, will help build the new grids that we need, as we know that we are going to be requiring up to four times as much electricity. Also, our use of electricity will be through a much more distributed grid system. That will be ongoing work in the months and years ahead.

[Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP)]

What does the Minister think is more likely to encourage greater use of electric vehicles: the Scottish Government’s grant scheme, with up to £28,000 for the purchase of a new vehicle, or her Government’s decision to cut the equivalent grant in England to just £2,500?

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

We will certainly be legislating to expand the dormant assets scheme to include new financial assets, which would unlock an estimated £880 million. We will be considering how to spend the English portion of that. The community wealth fund that my hon. Friend proposes is certainly an option and I thank him very much.

[Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP)]

Q5.   My constituent Anne has told me that a friend saw the ambulance outside the house on the night Anne’s husband died, but she was not allowed to go into the house to comfort her friend. Anne’s husband went to his rest in an almost empty building while scores of his friends stood freezing outside. Anne went back to an empty house to grieve for the rest of the day alone. My constituent Susan was not allowed to go in the ambulance or even to follow the ambulance, blue light and all, after her husband had a heart attack. Other constituents had the heartbreaking realisation that they were not allowed to go into care homes to break the news in person to their relatives that someone in the family had died. In their words, not mine, the Prime Minister is a “charlatan”, a “hypocrite” and a “liar”. What will he now say to my constituents—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I know that you are repeating what your constituents said, but I want more moderate and temperate language. Prime Minister, you might want to deal just with the general question, and certainly not the end of it.