From the chamber

DAYS before COP26, a pivotal moment in our fight against climate change, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak delivered the autumn budget speech.

There is a climate-sized hole in this budget where decarbonised transport, insulated homes and green jobs should be.

Sadly, he doesn’t even utter the word climate once.

This is a government that has failed to acknowledge the links between environment and the economy, or the opportunities green investments can bring. Perhaps they believe that COP stands for “carry on polluting”?

It speaks volumes about this Government’s green credentials that it’s determined to find creative solutions to cut the costs of taking internal flights yet shows no desire to help rail passengers who get hit with annual price hikes.

Short-haul plane journeys and fossil fuel-burning cars are two of the most environmentally damaging ways to travel, and this budget has just cancelled planned tax increases.

For the nation that is hosting COP26, what kind of a message does it send that the UK is trying to tackle the climate emergency by making driving and flying cheaper, whilst the cost and availability of alternatives are not even considered?

Locally the Tories have decided to waste £17 million of the climate emergency budget promoting the use of cars instead of using that to provide safe, accessible, sustainable travel facilities, and therefore choice.

There is a failure to look forwards at the coming technologies (e-bikes, e-scooters).

Ultimately this Tory policy will lead to more cars on the roads, more maintenance requirements and more emissions.

Insulating people’s homes appears to have fallen off the radar.

The government is trying to distract the public by making announcements about heat pumps (with a policy that isn’t going to scratch the surface of what is required) but makes no mention of the priority – reducing the need for energy in the first place by ensuring homes are insulated.

In the Heat and Buildings Strategy, published in the last couple of weeks, it simply states “we are exploring opportunities for improving the energy performance of owner occupier homes”.

And the private rented sector and social housing are addressed only by existing policy.

As for new homes, the future homes standard due to be introduced in 2025 was actually cancelled by the Tories in 2015.

In the intervening period, many new homes, particularly in Wokingham, have been built that are going to require retrofitting.

Liberal Democrat policy is Energy Efficiency First, and we would carry out an emergency 10-year programme to reduce energy consumption from buildings, cutting emissions and fuel bills and helping to end fuel poverty, including providing free retrofits for low-income homes.

We would fund this by taxing windfalls on fossil fuel companies and provide a range of incentives to help owner occupiers and landlords make improvements such as by a graduate stamp duty land tax by the energy rating of the buildings with a refund to those that improve within a year of purchase, and a loan scheme that asks for repayment against the value of the home at the point of sale.

We would also ensure all new buildings are of Passivhaus standard by 2025.

We should not be in a position where we’re having to retrofit new properties.

Additionally, we would delegate powers to local government and communities, something this current government refuses to do.

The climate emergency cannot be tackled without multi-level action and as we go into COP26, the UK’s NDC (nationally determined contributions) mentions local government just once.

The Conservatives are not serious about the threat we face. Now is the time for action.