Claire Young

I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement, much of which we can agree with. The North sea gives the UK the opportunity to become a powerhouse in renewable energy generation, and it is time that we seized it. We urge the Government to make good their commitment to consult on a new regime to boost investment in jobs. We want to ensure that the oil and gas industry is wound down in a way that supports the redeployment of skills and jobs, and provides the right incentives to encourage fossil fuel industries to invest in green technologies. What details can the Minister give us of the support that the Government will provide to upskill and redeploy those who were formerly working in the fossil fuel industry? We believe that much bolder action is urgently needed to ensure energy security, to cut bills and, with Donald Trump threatening to pull the United States out of the Paris agreement once again, to resume the UK’s global leadership role on climate action, which was abandoned by the previous Conservative Government. We urge this Government to introduce an emergency 10-year plan to insulate homes, starting with free insulation for the most vulnerable residents, and to introduce an energy social tariff to tackle fuel poverty and health inequalities caused by cold, damp homes. We are deeply concerned about the cost of heating bills following Ofgem’s decision to increase the energy price cap by 6.4% this April—the third increase since October 2024. The Government must decouple electricity prices from the wholesale gas price and toughen up their windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas giants, including by increasing the tax by another two percentage points to a headline rate of 80%. Time and again, we have been disappointed by the decisions that the Government have taken this winter to delay energy bills support for households. For example, the Government’s warm homes scheme, designed to insulate homes, will not benefit households until—