Speeches by Collinge.

“Moving on to other regulations, I have heard from local organisations, including local government-led clean energy projects, that there are barriers that are regulatory, not technical. The example that was given to me was that they have a renewable energy project that, by regulation, can only benefit the people on one …”

“I will happily follow this up in writing to give you the proper overview, but in the example that was given to me, this local government officer was very clear that there was no technical barrier to this scheme being used more widely. It was a regulatory barrier. I will follow up with details, but that is not really th…”

“Finally, Chair, if I may, one of my many councils, given my constituency, under a rainbow of different administrations, has been very forward-thinking in decarbonisation and taking its commitment to net zero very seriously. In the past, there have been funding streams for local government to decarbonise, and a lot of t…”

“We have been told that, under the national planning policy framework, we have a definition of community-led energy, but it is not currently able to be considered as a material consideration in a planning decision. The benefits of reducing grid pressure, network investments and consumer flexibility cannot be considered …”

“Except it seems to always be very specific to that site and the land base. Broader considerations, such as benefits to the community of cheaper energy or whatever it is, do not seem to be given an awful lot of weight in the planning system. If you made it a material consideration, the argument is that it would be easie…”

“I will try to be quick then, Chair. I want to talk about the UK’s international climate policy and links with community energy. Has your engagement with community energy stakeholders on this very ambitious target of 8 GW informed the approach to our international climate policy in any way? Is there any interaction betw…”

“I want to talk about planning because it is very exciting. First of all, when it comes to community energy projects, we have been told that they often face barriers at planning at the local level. Who is responsible for planning when it comes to community energy projects? Is it your Department or MHCLG?”

“That takes me on to my next question. You have talked about the lessons we have learned from our European counterparts, but the International Development Committee has recommended that there is a two-way learning mechanism between us and low and middle-income countries on community energy. I would be interested in any …”

“If we wanted to see changes to the planning system to enable community energy, we need to get MHCLG.”

“If we wanted to see changes to the planning system to enable community energy, we need to get MHCLG.”

“It is a pleasure to speak in support of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill. We all know that our NHS faces workforce shortages in many specialties. In my constituency of Morecambe and Lunesdale, the workforce problem, combined with other factors, means that my constituents are not seeing the improvement in wait…”

“I am sure that pubs and venues, such as the Alhambra in Morecambe, will welcome today’s announcement. The Minister might be aware of my letter to the Chancellor on the wider hospitality sector. On the high street, we know that consumer demand has changed, so businesses must change, too. Will the Minister tell me how th…”

“In my constituency of Morecambe and Lunesdale, 5.5% of residents are veterans. That is higher than the north-west average and much higher than the national average of 3.8%. In fact, one in 10 households in my constituency contains a veteran. That is why our promise at the general election to extend the armed forces cov…”

“I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. No longer can we just have warm words and lip service; we need action, because this contract says something very simple: “If you’re prepared to serve your country, your country must serve you properly in return.” For too long, our country has failed to honour that commitment. The…”

“I absolutely agree. Our mission as a Government is to halve violence against women and girls, and that, of course, must include the women who serve in the armed forces. No one should be unsafe when serving our country. No one should be subjected to violence and abuse. In this more dangerous world, the Bill expands our …”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that it is really important that those on the Labour Benches include hon. and gallant Members who can give us a real taste of what life in the armed forces is like? For civvies like me, it is all fine and well to be making decisions, but we need to listen to people who have served or who are s…”

“In Morecambe and Lunesdale we have some absolutely fantastic cadet corps. The lord lieutenant of Lancashire is looking at how to extend these cadet corps into cyber-security, which is really exciting. Does my hon. Friend agree that those cadets are vital to the future of our armed forces?”

“I just wanted to get back to Polly’s point about demand-side flexibility at a consumer level; I am interested in automation because I agree with her that it is too much to ask people to do it themselves in a meaningful way. Do we currently have systems where, if people have an EV solar battery and a tariff, those can t…”

“That feels like the story of our lives.”

“Very quickly, just to make sure I have understood this correctly, we are talking in this context about interconnectors only being used to import energy; but my understanding is that they can be used to export energy as well. Just to get back to your point about the energy mix, would strengthening our interconnector sys…”