Business of the House

Wera Hobhouse Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We now come to the Lib Dem spokesperson.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

May I also say what a pleasure it is to see you back in your place, Mr Speaker? I welcome the Leader of the House to her position, and congratulate her on the election results: securing such a large majority is no easy task, and her party at all levels deserves credit. The same can be said for our party, the Liberal Democrats: we are now the largest third party in over a century, with our most MPs ever. I thank all of the Liberal Democrats’ campaigners across the country who have fought tirelessly for a fair deal.

Our No. 1 priority is fixing the health and care crisis, so that no matter where in the country a person is, they can see a doctor or a dentist when they need to do so. Also central to our campaign was a fair deal for social care staff. The Government have promised to introduce a fair pay agreement for adult social care staff; while we Liberal Democrats welcome that announcement, there has been no detail of how it will be funded. The Liberal Democrats would fund a fair pay deal for social care staff by reversing the tax cuts handed by the Conservative party to the big banks. How will the Government fund that commitment?

Another issue that must be urgently addressed is our commitment to reach net zero. The report published today by the Climate Change Committee makes clear that the days of U-turning on climate commitments and diluting environmental targets must come to an end. Only a third of the emissions reductions required to achieve our 2030 target are currently covered by credible plans. The Liberal Democrats are committed to the bold, urgent action needed to tackle climate change, cut energy bills and create hundreds of thousands of secure, well-paid jobs. The Conservatives’ lack of ambition relinquished our place as a global environmental leader. With COP29 nearing, the UK has a golden opportunity to turbocharge global climate change policies.

Of course, the worst scandal of the past few years has been the sewage scandal. Can we have a debate in Government time on how we can fix this scandal, which has blighted our communities up and down the country?

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comments, and I welcome her to her place. I congratulate the Liberal Democrats on their success and their results in the election. They have an historic number of new Members of Parliament, although I am surprised that she did not bungee jump her way in this morning or rollerblade her way along from Members Lobby. She and I have worked together in the past, and I look forward to our working together in the future.

I know that part of the Liberal Democrat mandate at the election was about cleaning up our politics and turning the page, and this election certainly demanded action on that, so I hope we can realise some of that together. I worked closely with the hon. Lady’s colleague the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) on risk-based exclusions in the last Parliament, and I look forward to having a constructive relationship with her on those issues as well.

The hon. Lady raised a few issues. We absolutely share the Liberal Democrats’ concerns about the social care crisis in this country, and we are determined to get a grip on that. We know that care is not always available or of the quality that people deserve, and we are determined that everybody should have access to dignified, independent support in life. In the King’s Speech, we announced action in the employment Bill on establishing a fair pay agreement in the adult social care sector, and we look forward to working together on some of those issues.

On net zero, there will be the opportunity to question the Energy Secretary later. We have a really ambitious plan to get to net zero and be a clean energy superpower by 2030, and we have already started that programme. We have lifted the moratorium on onshore wind, we have agreed to planning applications for more solar in the past week than—taken together—has ever happened in our country’s history before and we have begun the process to establish Great British Energy.

I share the hon. Lady’s frustrations about the quality of water in this country, and it falls to this Government—how can I put it?—to clean up some of the mess of the previous Government in this area. [Interruption.] I know Conservative Members do not like to hear about all their mess floating around in the rivers, but I am afraid it does float around. We have announced a number of measures on that already, and we will continue to work together as we see our water special measures Bill that was announced in the King’s Speech yesterday progress through Parliament.