Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-03-30
Topic: Environment
Questions: The UK Government’s work connecting rural areas such as Brecon and Radnorshire to superfast broadband will become a lot harder tomorrow, when the Welsh Government withdraw their matched funding for the scheme, forcing the cost of installation back on to homes and businesses in my constituency. Welsh Labour’s decision means that my constituents will lose out, as local authorities in England continue to fund the scheme. Does my right hon. Friend agree that broadband is critical to the growth of the rural economy, and will he double his Government’s efforts to connect my constituents, despite Welsh Labour’s letting us down yet again?; Following on from the publication of the schools White Paper, one of my most important campaigns is to secure provision of quality post-16 education within the Bolsover constituency, where there is currently none. Young people in my constituency have to travel long distances at considerable cost to access their education. Will my right hon. Friend meet me to discuss how we can right this wrong for the young people of the Bolsover constituency and give them the education that they deserve?; Households are experiencing soaring energy costs. We are in the middle of a global climate emergency. Against that backdrop, Norway can feed energy into our national grid at a cost of £1.36 per megawatt-hour. France pays 17p per megawatt-hour. Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg pay nothing to feed into our grid. Can the Prime Minister explain then why Scotland’s renewables sector is being punished with grid connection charges of £7.36 per megawatt-hour?;   With the Government losing an estimated £4 billion to fraud in the furlough scheme, surely the Prime Minister should have tackled that fraud—especially when, in his own party in North Tyneside, furlough was claimed for a member of party staff even though he continued to work.; Over 2 million tonnes of edible food is wasted on farms and in factories every year. Funding was introduced in 2019 to cover the costs of getting food to charities to reach those in need. The Prime Minister will know, however, that the Government have now cut that critical funding to zero. Funding for food waste diversion helps to support community projects such as the Threehills community supermarket in Glasgow, so can he explain why he is ignoring calls from Feeding Britain, Good Food Scotland and FareShare to continue that worthwhile initiative and is instead cutting off a lifeline to those struggling with the cost of living crisis?; Prime Minister, every day I hear from more and more of my Rotherham constituents who are struggling to put food on the table, to keep their lights on and to fuel their cars. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the Government’s measures will only offset falling living standards by a third. This is the biggest financial squeeze since the 1950s. Prime Minister, do not blame Ukraine and do not blame covid. This is down to your Government’s policies and your political choices. How do you sleep at night?; My constituency has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the entire country, with too many already struggling between heating and eating. The Government’s recent real-terms social security cut will now push even more families, children and pensioners into desperation. Does the Prime Minister agree that the biggest squeeze in household finances since records began does not come out of the blue, but is due to Conservative economics and the notion that, while some have the pleasure of partying, the rest of us should suffer?; Gas and electric prices and bills are through the roof. The “just about managing” are no longer managing; they are coming to surgeries and queuing at food banks. Last week, the Government had a golden opportunity to tackle this. Why the devil did they not take that opportunity to do something to relieve the pressure on our constituents?;   A cornerstone of the last Conservative manifesto was a guarantee that the basic state pension would rise by 2.5%, the rate of inflation, or earnings growth, whichever was the highest. Instead, from April the state pension will rise by less than half of the current inflation rate. How does the Prime Minister explain this abject betrayal of some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, who are squeezed by rocketing energy and food prices on the one hand and the miserliness of this Government on the other?; You will forgive me, Mr Speaker, if I start by saying that, given the Prime Minister’s preferences for fantasy castles and Peppa Pig, he is welcome to come and visit Zog Playland at Warwick castle.In Warwick and Leamington, as across the country, the cost of living crunch is really serious. As we have heard, energy bills are set to double by the end of this year and food prices to rise by 10% to 15% by year end, and fuel is already 22% up year on year. It must be hard for the Prime Minister to stay in touch with financial reality, given that donors and friends pay for flights and holidays and many of his bills. We also have a “200 Million Dollar Man” Chancellor—[Interruption]—who is so out of touch that he is contactless. The public believe—; Last Friday, it emerged that there had been an oil spill in Beverley Brook, a river that flows through Richmond Park to the Thames. Black waste oil and iridescence can now be seen along 13 km of the watercourse, posing a serious threat to fish and local wildlife. The Environment Agency is investigating, but it is understaffed and underfunded while also battling water companies over sewage discharge. Will the Government commit to strengthening the powers of the Office for Environmental Protection, as the Lib Dems tried to do through the passage of the Environment Bill, so that it can hold the Government and other public authorities to account over environmental damage in the same way that the European Commission was able to?
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I know what is behind the hon. Member’s question: a desire to return to the jurisdiction of the European Union. We want to ensure that we use our landmark Environment Act 2021 to continue to improve the quality of our rivers, and that is what we are doing.