debates/debates2025-11-18d conversation_13
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-18)

UK Parliament Hansard data: debates/debates2025-11-18d conversation_13

Rachel Taylor:If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities. \p Michael Shanks: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Minister for Climate are in Brazil at the conference of the parties, fighting for Britain’s interests in the global transition and playing our part in securing leadership on the climate crisis. Since our last oral questions session, we have announced that 250 schools will benefit from Great British Energy’s solar roll-out; SSE has announced  £33 billion of private investment in the energy system; we have set out our clean energy jobs plan to create 400,000 new clean energy jobs; and letters have started to arrive for the 6 million families who will receive £150 off their bills this winter. That is the difference this Government are making in order to deliver energy security, climate leadership and good jobs, and to protect households and businesses. \p Rachel Taylor: Last year, over 1,000 former mineworkers in North Warwickshire and Bedworth benefited from this Government’s historic decision to release the surplus from the mineworkers’ pension scheme. Now, members of the British Coal staff superannuation scheme, such as my constituents Ray Sweet, Don Jennings and Andy Callow, are seeking that same justice. I held an event with the BCSSS members in my constituency, at which I heard from a woman who joined the National Coal Board at 16 and went to the mines at 5.30 in the morning to ensure night shift miners got their pay packets. Could the Minister reassure— \p Lindsay Hoyle: Order. \p Rachel Taylor: Could the Minister reassure my constituent and others like her that the Government are doing everything they can— \p Lindsay Hoyle: Order. Sorry, but one of us is going to have to sit down. Please—topical questions are meant to be short and punchy. You cannot do a full statement. I think you ought to try to catch my eye for an Adjournment debate, because this is a very important subject. Minister, I think you have got the principle of the question. \p Michael Shanks: I pay tribute to all those who toiled in our coalmines for a very long time—we owe them a great debt. As the Prime Minister said in the House on 12 November, the Government remain committed to agreeing a way forward with the trustees that will benefit scheme members. We will make an announcement on this issue in due course. \p Lindsay Hoyle: I call the shadow Secretary of State. \p Claire Coutinho: At this COP, acres of the Amazon were chopped down so that the Secretary of State can lecture us about saving the planet. Can the Minister justify why his Government did not even put a single penny into the forest fund, which could have at least repaired some of the damage? \p Michael Shanks: I think the shadow Secretary of State has a bit of a cheek talking about anyone’s action on the climate crisis when she has completely reversed her own position on it. The UK’s climate leadership is an incredibly important contribution to the world’s action on the climate crisis. That crisis is not a future threat, but a very present reality. The UK has been a part of the forest initiative; we have supported Brazil and others to make that happen. Of course, coming up to a Budget and with tight fiscal considerations, we want to make sure that every pound of British taxpayers’ money is spent. We have not ruled out any future support for such schemes. Britain’s leadership at COP and at other international forums is important for our own economic interests, but also for tackling the global climate crisis.