Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Tuesday 12th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

I heartily agree with the hon. Gentleman’s celebration of our postal workers today. As he says, they will deliver in all weather to 29 million addresses across the country over the festive season. I cannot agree, however, that renationalisation is the answer. Royal Mail is in negotiations with the Communication Workers Union, and progress has been made following mediation by Professor Lynette Harris. I assure the hon. Gentleman that there would be a great loss to the postal workers, who, let us not forget, own 12%—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am extremely grateful to the Minister, but we have a lot to get through. We need to be much brisker. Sorry.

[Christian Matheson]

I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. As postal workers trudge through the snow this morning, they will have a right to be aggrieved at losing their pensions, while Moya Greene gets paid £1.9 million and gets free flights, paid for by Royal Mail, to Canada. Does the Minister accept that?

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[Margot James]

I understand that Royal Mail’s offer of a pay increase to its workforce is far from frozen. I do not propose to comment much further, however, other than to say that the figures the hon. Gentleman refers to are misleading, because they go way beyond the chief executive’s base salary and include performance-related benefits, which are in line with a position of that stature.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Minister may judge that the figures are misleading, but I am sure she would not suggest that the hon. Gentleman would deliberately mislead the House.

[Margot James]

I certainly would not, Mr Speaker.

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[Richard Harrington]

My hon. Friend should be reassured that nothing would please me more than coming to Frome in Somerset to see the work that he has done locally. The clean growth strategy sets out how the UK is leading the world on carbon emissions, and we have set out how the Government will invest more than £2.5 billion in low-carbon innovation between 2015 and 2021.

[Mr Speaker]

I am sure that Frome will roll out some sort of carpet for the hon. Gentleman.

[Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP)]

Major banks have lent £630 billion to build new coal-powered stations across the world, many of them in our competitor countries. What assessment has the Minister made of the cost of electricity for the competitiveness of businesses in the UK and does he not recognise that our attempts to save the world while the rest of the world is gaily building power stations fuelled by coal only damage our economy?

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[Richard Harrington]

There is a lot of chuntering from a sedentary position, which I will not take any notice of. I would like to answer the question if Opposition Members will allow me.

My hon. Friend should know that the cost of renewable energy is coming down. The cost of electricity from offshore wind farms, for example, has halved in price since they were first introduced. The Opposition may interpret this to mean that my hon. Friend is wrong. I would say that he is not wrong but he needs further education on this subject, and I will be delighted to meet him at any time to discuss it.

[Mr Speaker]

What an enticing prospect for the hon. Member for Monmouth.

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)]

7. What steps he is taking to support growth in the small business sector.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

We have some very shy Government Back-Bench Members at this point, so I call Graham Jones.

[Graham P. Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

The Labour manifesto in the summer committed to 60% of our heat and power being produced from zero-carbon or renewable energies. When will the Government match that ambition from the Opposition?