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Opposition day on Wednesday, 11 January 2012, in the House of Commons, led by Caroline Flint. The answering member was Lord Barker of Battle.

Energy Prices

Unallotted opposition day debate (part two). Closure motion. Agreed to on question. Main question negatived on division (248 to 323).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
538 c251-92 
Session
2010-12
Department
Department of Energy and Climate Change
Procedure
Closure motions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 538 c260-1 (Link to this contribution) Order. The wind-ups will start at about 6.40 pm. As hon. Members can see from the clock, we do not h...
Caroline Flint | 538 c257 (Link to this contribution) The truth is that the Government are not on the same planet as most of the rest of us. What the Min...
Show all contributions (93)
Tessa Munt | 538 c257 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady consider the fact that after a green deal installation, people might find t...
Caroline Flint | 538 c258 (Link to this contribution) The warmth issue is not really part of the equation. The question of what this measure should mean h...
Caroline Flint | 538 c258-9 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make a bit of progress. The Department of Energy and Climate Change website actually s...
Lord Watts | 538 c259 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is clear that the energy companies have made the tariff syst...
Caroline Flint | 538 c259 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that that is the case. I have met a number of the energy companies over the past few mon...
David Mowat | 538 c259 (Link to this contribution) I have in front of me a copy from the EU website of the gas prices for every country in Europe and i...
Caroline Flint | 538 c259-60 (Link to this contribution) First, that is not about the point I was making, but is the hon. Gentleman defending the way in whic...
David Mowat | 538 c260 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady give way on that point?
Caroline Flint | 538 c260 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way to the hon. Gentleman again. The bigger issue is how we carry out a root-an...
Caroline Flint | 538 c260 (Link to this contribution) It was actually 15.4%, but I do not want to be churlish. I am pleased that the prices have come down...
Mike Weir | 538 c260 (Link to this contribution) I thank the shadow Secretary of State for giving way, and she is making a very good point. Rather th...
Chris Huhne | 538 c261 (Link to this contribution) I have been very rapid in my reaction to the EDF announcement and I have been pressing the energy co...
Tom Clarke | 538 c261 (Link to this contribution) In the objectives that the right hon. Gentleman has set for himself and no doubt for the Government ...
Chris Huhne | 538 c261 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I shall try to take on board your injunction for brevity. Last year, ...
Lord Watts | 538 c261 (Link to this contribution) On that point, has the Secretary of State contacted those energy companies and made it absolutely cl...
Chris Huhne | 538 c262 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the concern about prepayment meters. It is one thing that we hav...
Chris Huhne | 538 c261-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising that issue, which I shall address in greater d...
Tessa Munt | 538 c262 (Link to this contribution) Has my right hon. Friend made any progress in sorting out the situation faced by people who have pre...
Caroline Flint | 538 c251-2 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House believes that soaring energy bills are driving up inflation, contribu...
Caroline Flint | 538 c253 (Link to this contribution) One of the first actions taken by the Labour Government after winning in 1997 was to look at the sit...
Lord Watts | 538 c254 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is not what people say, but what they do? The last Labour Go...
Lord Sharma | 538 c252 (Link to this contribution) It is all very well for the right hon. Lady to lecture the Government, but in the last six years of ...
Caroline Flint | 538 c252-3 (Link to this contribution) I am proud of the fact that, by the time we left government, there were 1 million fewer people in fu...
Caroline Flint | 538 c253 (Link to this contribution) The difference between Labour Members and Government Members is that we do not just give up; we look...
Andrew Percy | 538 c253 (Link to this contribution) Does the shadow Secretary of State agree that whatever the situation with the winter fuel allowance,...
Barry Gardiner | 538 c255 (Link to this contribution) The witnesses who gave evidence to the Select Committee made it clear that the statutory protections...
Caroline Flint | 538 c255 (Link to this contribution) I feel that the time has come for us to take stock of our position. The first line of the motion ref...
Guy Opperman | 538 c255 (Link to this contribution) Today the Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change heard some of my constituents give evidence ...
Caroline Flint | 538 c255 (Link to this contribution) We have had a number of debates on the subject. One of the problems with off-grid energy is that som...
Caroline Flint | 538 c254-5 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right: actions speak louder than words. The actions going on at the mom...
Robert Flello | 538 c256-7 (Link to this contribution) I am deeply troubled by the Minister's intervention. If he visits my constituency, I will take him t...
Caroline Flint | 538 c256 (Link to this contribution) Well, I have to say that some of my constituents have had help with things such as boilers, heating ...
Robert Flello | 538 c255-6 (Link to this contribution) In Blurton in my constituency, there was the fantastic sight of houses having photovoltaic panels er...
Caroline Flint | 538 c256 (Link to this contribution) It is always very helpful to hear of real examples. We have listened to many smaller businesses in t...
Mark Spencer | 538 c269 (Link to this contribution) Yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition said that the previous Administration had not made enough pr...
Alec Shelbrooke | 538 c269 (Link to this contribution) The motion's opening line states:"““That this House believes that soaring energy bills are driving u...
Speaker | 538 c268 (Link to this contribution) Order. Please keep in mind the need for brevity, as we have less than an hour before the wind-ups.
John Robertson | 538 c271 (Link to this contribution) I shall try to talk to the subject that we are here to discuss, unlike the hon. Member for Elmet and...
Alec Shelbrooke | 538 c270-1 (Link to this contribution) Quite right—the hon. Lady corrects me from a sedentary position. However, we had to bite the bullet ...
John Robertson | 538 c272 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way. There are a lot of people wanting to speak. My constituents are grossly disadv...
Simon Wright | 538 c272 (Link to this contribution) In October we saw the launch of the ““Check, switch, insulate to save”” campaign. There is a clear n...
David Mowat | 538 c271 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Simon Wright | 538 c272-4 (Link to this contribution) That is a very good point, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for making it, but given the sometimes hug...
Bob Stewart | 538 c272 (Link to this contribution) Is that not the very point that we were making earlier? Citizens advice bureaux and the Department, ...
Tom Clarke | 538 c274-5 (Link to this contribution) My objective today is, as it has been in similar debates under the previous Government and this one,...
Ben Gummer | 538 c275-6 (Link to this contribution) It is always a great pleasure and honour to follow the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston an...
Ben Gummer | 538 c276 (Link to this contribution) I can tell the right hon. Lady, in answer to her sedentary question, that even the small providers h...
Chris Huhne | 538 c264-5 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my hon. Friend on the need to continue the whole process of clarifying energy ...
Bob Stewart | 538 c264 (Link to this contribution) If the Government are writing to so many vulnerable people, can we not make it as simple as possible...
Chris Huhne | 538 c264 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman. Sadly, during tough times people tend to fall behind with energy bi...
Mike Weir | 538 c264 (Link to this contribution) Following up on the Secretary of State's answer to the hon. Member for Wells (Tessa Munt), I note th...
Chris Huhne | 538 c263 (Link to this contribution) I will let the right hon. Lady know the information as soon as we have it. When it is available, I w...
Chris Huhne | 538 c263 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. One of the first things I did on becoming Secretary of State ...
Barry Gardiner | 538 c263 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State rightly talked about the simplification of tariff structures. Will he give a ...
Chris Huhne | 538 c263 (Link to this contribution) I can only recommend that the hon. Lady look at switching energy supplier to see whether she can fin...
Baroness Berger | 538 c262-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Wells (Tessa Munt) raised the issue of people on prepayment meters. There are tw...
Robert Flello | 538 c265 (Link to this contribution) Many of the houses in my constituency and others were built without cavities. Often people take the ...
Chris Huhne | 538 c266-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good and important point. People who are off-grid have traditionally had to d...
Chris Huhne | 538 c266 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The story of energy policy under the previous Government is one ...
Guy Opperman | 538 c266 (Link to this contribution) I merely reiterate the point that with 24% of the north-east in fuel poverty, the situation in relat...
Chris Huhne | 538 c266 (Link to this contribution) I very happily exempt the right hon. Gentleman from my strictures about the previous Government's po...
Chris Heaton-Harris | 538 c265 (Link to this contribution) There was a ten-minute rule Bill yesterday on park homes. Will they benefit from the green deal?
Chris Huhne | 538 c265 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman's constituency is clearly a perfect place for the green deal, because the ECO sub...
Alec Shelbrooke | 538 c265 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether we are in the position we are in today because of the previous Administration's ina...
Chris Huhne | 538 c265 (Link to this contribution) Park homes will be eligible for the green deal. We in the ministerial team are very keen to ensure t...
Graham Stringer | 538 c267 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State correctly points out that all projections on future energy prices show an upw...
Chris Huhne | 538 c267 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. Shale gas is potentially an exciting developme...
Ben Gummer | 538 c280 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that the probe initiated by the previous Secretary of State found that the e...
Pat Glass | 538 c276-7 (Link to this contribution) I have spoken in every energy debate in the House since my election. That is because my constituency...
Speaker | 538 c279 (Link to this contribution) Order. I want to allow some people who have been here throughout the debate to get at least somethin...
Sarah Newton | 538 c278-9 (Link to this contribution) I will not, because I want to allow more colleagues to join in. The programme is going to give peop...
David Mowat | 538 c280 (Link to this contribution) I have been sitting here for a few moments trying to work out whether to talk quickly in the next fe...
Mike Weir | 538 c279-80 (Link to this contribution) In the brief time available I just want to make a few comments. Rising energy prices are obviously c...
Pat Glass | 538 c277-8 (Link to this contribution) Yes, exactly the same issues are raised in my constituency surgeries. The OFT accepted that in some ...
Guy Opperman | 538 c277 (Link to this contribution) I am the hon. Lady's constituency neighbour and we share a great deal of common ground on the issue ...
Sarah Newton | 538 c278 (Link to this contribution) I simply do not accept the criticism we have heard this afternoon from the Opposition that the Gover...
David Mowat | 538 c280-1 (Link to this contribution) I was aware of that, and I shall finish on this point by saying that if Labour Members have evidence...
Baroness Winterton of Doncaster | 538 c288 (Link to this contribution) claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be n...
Charles Hendry | 538 c286-8 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to have the opportunity to respond to the debate, which I think we all would agree ha...
Baroness Berger | 538 c283-6 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to respond to this very important debate. At the start of the debate, my right hon. Fri...
Andrew Percy | 538 c282-3 (Link to this contribution) As many other Members have said, this is an issue of huge concern to constituents across the country...
Lord Barker of Battle | 538 c256 (Link to this contribution) Unfortunately, the right hon. Lady is making completely the wrong point. Warm Front does not deliver...
Malcolm Wicks | 538 c266 (Link to this contribution) This is not the point that I was going to make, but I recall the previous, Labour Government making ...
Albert Owen | 538 c268-9 (Link to this contribution) It is always a pleasure to follow the Secretary of State. I, too, welcome the debate, and I congratu...
Alec Shelbrooke | 538 c269-70 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful for that intervention. Half the problem with such motions is that they ignore the...
Caroline Flint | 538 c263 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Gentleman answer my question? How many consumers have switched since the energy s...
Barry Gardiner | 538 c281-2 (Link to this contribution) Since 2004, gas and electricity bills have increased more than six times faster than household incom...
Subjects
Conservation Housing Energy Electricity Fuel poverty Insulation Warm front scheme Natural gas Meters Prices Renewable energy Winter fuel payment Feed-in tariffs Warm home discount scheme Green deal scheme
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