Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower

Simon Lightwood Excerpts

Thursday 9th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Simon Lightwood (Wakefield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Last year I delivered my maiden speech during debate on the Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy Act 2022. It had taken seven long months of dither and delay for the Government finally to accept Labour’s calls for a windfall tax. Instead, they spent that time attacking us—proof that the Tories are out of touch. Months on, and we are still in the middle of a Conservative cost of living crisis: stagnant growth, soaring energy bills and skyrocketing mortgages. To tackle it, the Government have responded by announcing the fewest Bills in a state opening of Parliament for almost a decade—again, a Government who are out of touch.

The Tories have yet again doubled down on oil and gas licences as their solution, but that does nothing to fight the climate crisis, and even the Energy Secretary cannot say that it will bring bills down. Our communities have been hit harder than anywhere else in western Europe, and last summer the price of gas was nine times higher than that of renewables. To add to this, their ban on onshore wind, as well as their scrapping of the energy efficiency programme, has added hundreds of pounds to every family’s bills. The King’s Speech also made no mention of the community energy sector, which would build renewable energy capacity and put communities in control.

It is time we had cheaper energy bills and higher living standards, and that is what Labour’s plan for energy would deliver, establishing Great British Energy so that we can have clean and cheap power produced in Britain; starting a national warm homes plan to insulate millions of homes across the country; and tearing down the barriers to clean power in our communities. Those measures will create high-skilled and well-paid jobs, such as over 19,000 jobs upgrading homes in Yorkshire and the Humber alone. That is exactly the type of investment—with jobs—that our communities are crying out for, to bring long-term growth to our towns and cities.

On that note, the King’s Speech referred to regenerating our towns, but the Government did not announce any legislation to get on with the job. Does the Prime Minister really think that the people of Wakefield will trust him after his track record in office—“Hunger Games”-style funding pots, pitting town against town; services that continue to be cut to the bone, with more cuts; and money being handed out so late and inefficiently that not a single council in the north could spend all their shared prosperity funding? These sticking-plaster funding pots do not deliver the long-term change that we need in our town centres. We must replace the business rates system and level the playing field between online corporations and the small traders who are the beating heart of our high streets. That is the difference a Labour Government would make.

That cannot be done without people feeling safe on our streets, but serious violent crime has risen. I recently went on patrol with the hard-working policing team in Wakefield city centre to see at first hand the challenges they face. Antisocial behaviour in Ossett and Wakefield has seen buses diverted and passengers left stranded, and constituents reach out to me all the time to say they are not seeing enough police officers on the streets. That is the Tory record on crime and antisocial behaviour.

As I mentioned in my maiden speech last year, the shockingly high levels of sexual assault and violence are being made worse by the abject failure of our criminal justice system under this Government. The proposed sentencing Bill cannot work if victims—including many of my constituents—are having to wait months, if not years, for justice to be served. Some rape victims heard a senior judge saying that their perpetrators may have to stay on bail because our prisons are too full. This is a Government with the wrong priorities, failing to protect our communities.

To conclude, last June the voters of Wakefield sent a message to Boris Johnson that they had simply had enough. Over the last year, voters from Tadcaster to Tamworth have agreed with that verdict, and they have voted overwhelmingly for a fresh start with Labour. Instead, we face a zombie Government who have so little to offer the public that they sent MPs home early on half of all sitting days in the last Session. They really are the dementors of British politics, sucking the life out of this mother of all Parliaments, draining the hopes and aspiration of our great country over the past 13 long years. This is a King’s Speech from a Government who are out of energy, out of ideas and out of time. The British people have had enough. Change is coming.