Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I am working closely with Sir David Metcalf, the director of labour market enforcement. On his particular recommendation about increasing penalties, we just have increased the penalties and it is reasonable to look at their effectiveness. I have made the commitment to the House that, of course, we will increase them if that proves necessary, but one of the other reforms that we are making is to boost the enforcement of workers’ rights by bringing together the different enforcement bodies so that such employers—the minority that do play fast and loose with the rights to which employees are entitled—should expect justice to be brought about. This will be part of the package that we have tabled.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

8. What assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of the Paris rulebook agreed at COP24 in meeting the Paris agreement goal of holding the increase in global average temperature to less than 2° C.

[The Minister for Energy and Clean Growth (Claire Perry)]

I want to pay tribute to our UK negotiating team, which did such a fantastic job at the recent conference of the parties in developing a robust set of rules that will take us forward to achieve what we need, which is further hardcore nationally determined contributions in 2020. We want to use our leadership in this space to continue progress, which was why I was pleased to announce our expression of interest in hosting the 2020 COP right here in the UK. I hope the hon. Gentleman will support that.

[Mr Sharma]

I thank the Minister for that response. What sanctions are the Government willing to use to ensure that other countries meet their 2020 emission reduction targets?

[Claire Perry]

We do not have the power to sanction under international law—or, indeed, under the current United Nations proposals—but we can work positively through initiatives such as the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which I was pleased to set up with my Canadian equivalent last year, to encourage all countries that, like us, are committed to phasing coal out of their energy system in a short period. We now have more than 80 members a year after launch, so we can continue to lead by example.