Speeches by Young.

“I absolutely agree, and I am coming to those points. The Government have set out a clean flexibility road map, and E.ON has found that 84% of people want more control over energy, so what is the catch? It might be said that this is all well and good for affluent consumers, who can afford the smart technology—the electr…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. Some 4,497 of my constituents signed the petition, and I thank the many who took the time to write to me to explain their concerns. They believe that a mandatory digital ID threatens our right to privacy while doing nothing to address the Government’s stated a…”

“You talked earlier about the citizens’ panel that you ran. I think you said it was valuable. Would you like to briefly explain why you thought it was valuable and explain whether you would like to do more work in this area? If so, what would be the implications for your resourcing?”

“Emma, do you want to come in?”

“Briefly before we finish, I think you alluded to this already, but the opposition to energy infrastructure that you often see, do you think that would be reduced if it is more closely linked to reduced energy bills, if people could see the link between providing that infrastructure and—”

“I am feeling that you have all got reasons not to; it is not your remit.”

“Some of the questions I was going to ask have already been quite well covered because you have made it very clear, Emma, that it is very important that people see the impact of the energy transition on their energy bills in a positive way. To the panel more broadly, do you think the measures in last week’s Budget will …”

“If I could just quickly open it up to the other two members of the panel, could a standing citizens’ panel be valuable to the Government in terms of testing potential policies before final decisions are made on the implementation? How would that work and would there be a danger that over time they become professionalis…”

“Can I follow up on something that you said earlier when you were talking about the citizens’ panel, which was that you found that people came into it not believing they knew enough and that the process they then felt they were informed about and it did change their views? It was interesting this morning there were some…”

“If you went beyond resources—imagine a world where you have the resources—would you still feel it is not the right role?”

“If I could start with Emma, I want to talk about the role of the Climate Change Committee. Do you think it should play a more prominent role in the debate around the energy and net zero transition and do you see any conflicts or do you think that others might perceive any conflicts of interest if you took a more public…”

“The theme of today’s debate is fairer choices, so I want to look at whether the choices made yesterday really were fairer. On energy bills, I welcome the removal of the main green levies from electricity bills. They created a perverse disincentive to switching away from gas, at a time when we need people to do so to de…”

“In a letter to me from 2 October, a Work and Pensions Minister stated that the Department was undertaking a review of the child maintenance calculation, and that it would be published “late this year”. Given that it is almost December, could the Leader of the House confirm whether that is still the timeline, and if it …”

“The Prime Minister referred to Putin’s barbaric attacks on civilian energy infrastructure. What discussions has he had with his G20 counterparts about learning from Ukraine’s experience to protect energy supplies and infrastructure from hostile Russian action?”

“Increasing the sustainability of agriculture is a vital part of action on climate change, and it was particularly relevant at a COP held in the rainforest, which is under pressure from farming. Can the Secretary of State outline the discussions he had at COP on agriculture, and will he work with his colleagues in the D…”

“Many of my constituents will be disappointed that small modular reactors will be going to Wylfa, not Oldbury, and disappointed too by the Government’s shambolic handling of the announcement. The news was leaked on Tuesday. The promised calls to me—first from the Minister, then from No. 10—failed to materialise yesterda…”

“Can we turn now to public-private initiatives as a way of developing community energy? I will start with Emily. How can financial partnerships between local authorities and the private sector facilitate community energy developments, if indeed you think they can?”

“I do not know whether you want to add anything to that.”

“Do you think that is replicable?”

“I think you have partly answered these questions already. I want to explore a bit further what is appropriate and proportionate in material considerations. As someone else who has been a councillor and knows how quick people can be to jump to the idea that bribes and so forth are a thing, what criteria would you need t…”