Energy and Climate Change
Quick links: Policy | Speeches and articles | Raising climate change in Parliament
Liberal Democrat policy on energy and climate change
"The Liberal Democrats have received three green lights by offering the strongest set of policies on climate change, green taxation and green living."
How green are our parties?, report by the Green Alliance
We believe that there is a huge opportunity to get out of this recession by going green, strengthening the economy, creating new jobs and improving the quality of people's lives.
- Insulate every home in the UK so that it is cheaper to keep warm and pollutes less
- Protect the parks, countryside and coastline
- Stop building nuclear power stations because they are expensive, dangerous and creates tonnes of radioactive waste
- Use Britain's natural resources of wind and wave power to become a world leader in renewable energy
- Support the rapid development of carbon capture and storage technologies to reduce fossil fuel emissions
- Work closely with our European partners to build a European energy supergrid, making our energy use more efficient and securing our future energy supplies
As a country Britain must take the green road out of the recession. Click here to view more about our energy, environment and climate change policies.
Jump to the top of the page
Speeches and articles
Four energy facts
- Home energy efficiency - less than 1% of UK homes meets a decent level of energy efficiency
- Renewable energy - only 2% of UK energy comes from renewables. In Sweden this is over 30%
- Energy use - energy consumption has gone up by more than 3% since 1997 including an 11% rise in electricity consumption
- Green taxes - green taxes are down, from a high of 3.6% of GDP in 1999 to 2.7% in 2007
Raising climate change in Parliament
- May 9, 2012:
- Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address - [1st Day] (9 May 2012)
Simon Hughes: ...Green investment bank in Edinburgh, for which some of us, as members of an environmental party, have argued for many years and will now see delivered. We are proud that the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, our right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr Davey), will introduce an energy Bill to give us low-carbon energy generation and to develop renewables,...
- Mar 19, 2012:
- Protection of Freedoms Bill (Programme) (No. 4): National Policy Statement (Waste Water) (19 Mar 2012)
Richard Benyon: .... I concede that this is a serious matter, particularly the Thames tunnel element of it. I share many of the concerns expressed by my right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) and my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mark Field). I repeat my earlier assurance to them: I do not enter this matter with blind disregard to the...
- Mar 14, 2012:
- Oral Answers to Questions - Prime Minister: New Clause 1 - Water company social tariffs (14 Mar 2012)
Mary Creagh: ...the increase in weather volatility, however. If there are floods in Australia, it is likely that there will be droughts in other parts of the planet and we are going to have to plan for a lot more climate change disruptions. As constituency MPs, we are all mindful of the fact that this April water bills will be rising by an average of 5.7%. At the same time as those bills drop on to...
- Mar 5, 2012:
- Opposition Day - [Un-Allotted Day]: Jobs and Growth in a Low-carbon Economy (5 Mar 2012)
Gregory Barker: ...) was right to flag up the extraordinary industrial innovation in the green sector, which is creating jobs in his constituency. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) spoke with genuine passion. I understand his long-held views on nuclear power. Although he takes a different view from mine, I welcome his canter through the range of other coalition...
- Jun 21, 2011:
- [Mr Andrew Turner in the Chair] - Conflict Prevention (21 Jun 2011)
Henry Bellingham: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) for securing this important debate on the key issue of how we prevent conflict. I also congratulate him on the work that he has done with the all-party group on conflict issues, and I congratulate colleagues who have supported its work; it is...
- May 10, 2011:
- UK and Sierra Leone (10 May 2011)
Simon Hughes: ...opportunity to catch up on matters in general and to meet much of the community, but we went specifically to look at the challenges of deforestation that face the area around Freetown and of the climate change agenda. I have become a great fan of Sierra Leone because I have seen how the country has bounced back from one of the most terrible civil wars that Africa has seen in recent times....
- Feb 10, 2011:
- Dec 20, 2010:
- Oral Answers to Questions - Education: European Council (20 Dec 2010)
Simon Hughes: ...assure us that it does not mean that the budget will be frozen, but that subsidies that are not justified and expenditure that is wasted will be replaced by, for example, expenditure on energy and climate change issues, which are both the priority of this Government and ought to be the priority of the European Union as well?
- Dec 9, 2010:
- Nov 24, 2010:
- Jun 24, 2010:
- Ways and Means: Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation - Capital Gains Tax (Rates) (24 Jun 2010)
Simon Hughes: ..., Keynes and Beveridge are indeed part of the family of progressive liberals, of whom I regard myself as a modest inheritor. The most important thing that was announced in the area of energy and climate change and environmental policy, the specific theme of today's debate, was the green investment bank. It had been a Labour party commitment, and the Conservative party and Liberal Democrats...
- Jun 22, 2010:
- [Mr Graham Brady in the Chair] - Nuclear Energy (22 Jun 2010)
John Robertson: ...look again at the decision. We need world leaders, and the Sheffield plant, with the investment, would have an opportunity second to none. I do not feel the need to rehearse the concern about climate change and emissions targets; we have expressed it many times. However, I seek assurances from the Government about their intent. It is vital that we hear at first hand what position Ministers...
- Jun 14, 2010:
- UK Policy on the Middle East: Emerging Economies (14 Jun 2010)
Jeremy Browne: ...risk to the UK economy than the rise of those markets. We must also have a dynamic, outward-looking economy-this point was made by my hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southward (Simon Hughes)-that is not burdened by unsustainable levels of Government debt. Secondly, we will significantly increase our cross-Whitehall effort to engage not only with the obvious, big emerging...
- Jun 3, 2010:
- Business of the House: European Affairs (3 Jun 2010)
Julie Elliott: ...North (Catherine McKinnell), and the hon. Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy) on their excellent contributions. However, I beg to differ with the hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes): I was not aware that the north-east had a capital city, and coming from Sunderland, the largest city in the north-east, I disagree with his comments. It is a great honour to be here...
- May 27, 2010:
- Debate on the Address: Energy and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (27 May 2010)
Caroline Spelman: ...Member for Sevenoaks (Michael Fallon) that localism will help to relieve the pressure on education in west Kent, but I fully understand his point. The hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) sought reassurance about the new Government's approach to biodiversity targets. We are absolutely committed to reversing the trend in the reduction in biodiversity. I give him that...
- Mar 30, 2010:
- Mar 29, 2010:
- Feb 24, 2010:
- Public Bodies (Procurement of Seafood): New Schedule 1 - Consequential amendments (24 Feb 2010)
William Cash: I have listened to the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes), but I must say that he seems not to have taken account of the genuine concerns about some of the assumptions that have been made about climate change. However, I shall not elaborate on that as there is no need to do so now. I have taken an active interest in the whole energy question, and I agree with the...
- Feb 10, 2010:
Jump to the top of the page
