On Tuesday, I watched as the new prime minister Liz Truss’s cavalcade drove past my office window on her way to No.10 Downing Street. Although I did not vote for her as the Conservative Party’s new leader and now prime minister, I am confident that she will provide the stable and effective governance that the country needs, and I will, of course, support her in her endeavours to deliver for British people and businesses.
There are some grave issues facing this country and I welcome the new prime minister’s promise to take rapid action on energy bills to help families through the winter. I also welcome her commitment to tackle the root cause of the energy crisis and put us on a sure footing for the future whilst growing our economy to stave off the threat of recession.
Rishi Sunak, as chancellor, announced a number of measures earlier this year particularly targeting support at the most vulnerable amounting to £37 billion.
It is clear that due to President Putin weaponising energy, this new government needs to go further. The new prime minister has committed to helping with the cost of living immediately by scrapping the national insurance rise – providing immediate support for the cost of living and helping businesses. I look forward to hearing about other measures to help families too, building on the support already provided, following an emergency fiscal event which is to be held as soon as possible.
The prime minister has also said that she will introduce a temporary moratorium on the green energy levies, making up 8% of peoples’ energy bills, thereby reducing them over the winter. This, coupled with maximising North Sea oil and gas production, will reduce the cost and boost domestic energy supplies to make the most of the resources we have.
I know that many Rye residents committed to net zero will be concerned with increasing oil and gas production. I understand and empathise with these concerns. However, we are effectively on an economic war footing so we must do all we can to protect the British public and our businesses right now.
I also welcome the fact that Prime Minister Truss has promised to champion our world leading technologies to embrace more diverse sources of energy like SMRs – small modular nuclear reactors made by Rolls-Royce – and offshore wind. I suggested to the new chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng a few months ago that Dungeness should have an SMR as well as offshore wind, as the necessary grid infrastructure is already in place.
I would also like to see greater investment in green hydrogen as this is clearly going to be a big part of our future energy supplies. The prime minister has raised eyebrows regarding fracking, and I admit, I would prefer to see greater investment in clean energy (as I am not convinced about the geological safety of fracking let alone the environmental impact), but the decision on this will be left to those local communities which want it.
We have a target to get to net zero by 2050, but I certainly understand that people and businesses need help right now.
As always, I shall endeavour to put the residents of Hastings and Rye first as we navigate the global uncertainties ahead. We can all do a huge amount to help each other – we did that through the pandemic, and we can do it again. Our local community is strong and that, along with a positive attitude, will help us all get through this.
Image Credits: Chris Lawson .
Sounds like our MP backed the wrong horse and voted for back stabbing Sunak. Incidentally, moratorium means temporary.
Let’s not forget that Ms Hart also defended Dominic Cummings to the hilt over the Barnard Castle trip, and then defended Boris Johnson to the hilt over ‘partygate’. She puts loyalty to the Tories ahead of common sense and veracity.
I am sure our children will thank us for the economic legacy left by this government. Always a good idea to keep the shareholder onside. Todays students are faced with escalating interest rates on student loans, unless of course they have help from wealthy parents, as well as the prospect of higher taxation brought about from so many bad decisions imposed on us by this government. House prices through the roof, dirty beaches, the worst deaths from covid in Europe and hospital waiting times at a record high….what big things did the government get right I wonder.
I thought we agreed some time ago that press releases from our MP would not be copied and pasted, without a note about their source.
“(M)aximising North Sea oil and gas production, will reduce the cost and boost domestic energy supplies to make the most of the resources we have.”
It disappoints me that this assertion is still peddled.
First, North Sea oil and gas obviously cannot be turned on and off at a spigot. It’s not an instant remedy.
But that’s not the most egregious flaw in Mrs Hart’s assertion. Most of Britain’s North Sea energy reserves are in oil. And not the oil we in the UK tend to refine. So, it’s sold to foreign private companies. Then it’s sold on the international markets, and we buy it back at market rates – even during a crisis like the one we face today. It’s no longer ‘our’ oil. As a further illustration, UK gas exports in October 2021 were the highest for that month for a decade – at a time when the energy crisis was beginning. Why? Because the market offered a better price overseas for British gas. So, more UK oil and gas, contrary to our MP’s assurance, doesn’t mean more oil and gas for you and me – even if we wanted it. Moreover, it’s ridiculous to suggest greater production contributes to our energy security if we’re actually exporting it.
This proposition has everything to do with private commercial profits and absolutely nothing to do with the public good at a time of great social need. We live in a capitalist society, companies are designed as engines for profit, but let’s not pretend this is all something it’s not.
Sustaining or even expanding the North Sea oil business prolongs the transition to green energy, boosts corporate profits and private dividends, contributes to continued environmental damage and therefore effectively sustains higher prices for consumers in an era when we know absolutely that renewables cost far less than fossil fuels – economically and environmentally.
To make one parting comment which highlights the cynical lack of commitment to Net Zero, it should be noted that it takes on average 28 years from oil exploration and discovery to actual production. So if Jacob Reese-Mogg licenses new fields today, they would not be online until 2050. And why does that year ring a bell? Bcs 2050 is the date the Government has committed to reach Net Zero…
To quote Mrs Hart’s opposition to fracking, above, our MP states:
“The prime minister has raised eyebrows regarding fracking, and I admit, I would prefer to see greater investment in clean energy (as I am not convinced about the geological safety of fracking let alone the environmental impact), but the decision on this will be left to those local communities which want it.”
Given what Mrs Hart has said, above, how does she intend to vote on this afternoon’s confidence vote on fracking?
Will she stick to her declared principles or prop up a lame duck Prime Minister she didn’t back in the Conservative leadership election?
And if there’s a price for her loyalty, how about some funds to keep open our swimming pool?!!
To answer my own question, Sally Anne Hart backed the car-crash Conservative government tonight and voted for fracking. Which she told us last month she was against… Today, we’ve lost the Home Secretary, the Conservative Chief Whip, and, far more significantly, the nation’s credibility and the confidence of our allies and global investors… What are the markets going to do tomorrow? How much higher can inflation go? How much more will we pay on our mortgages?
The Conservatives have turned Britain into something between the Weimar Republic and a Banana Republic…
Surely, it’s time for an election?
Sally Anne Hart has missed the opportunity to gain some credibility. An MP who sticks to their principles what ever party would at least gain a little respect. This confirms we have an MP who who just says yes to gain favour from her leader without any scruples.
How predictable that our MP is now supporting Truss and so upbeat about the future. It’s the same old robotic rhetoric and she seems incapable of having her own opinion.
I’d rather she commented on the proposed closure of our swimming pool not promoting a party that is wrecking lives and the future of the country.
With Liz Truss unceremoniously forced out as PM after only 45 days in office, what does this say about Ms Hart’s judgment that ‘I am confident that she will provide the stable and effective governance that the country needs’? As for Dungeness possibly getting an SMR (new nuclear reactor), whoever is advocating is misguided in the extreme, because sea level rise caused by global warming will overwhelm the Dungeness site. In 45 days, Truss has totally trashed Britain’s reputation as a trusted and respected developed country. We are now the laughing stock of the world. As a Tory MP, Ms Hart must surely take her share of responsibility for the political and economic chaos and mayhem that’s enveloped our country. Fracking in the UK is pointless, both geologically and economically, as the former boss of Cuadrilla has publicly said. We clearly need to eliminate ALL fossil fuels asap if the human race is to survive the coming heat apocalypse.
Looks like she has backed the wrong horse again.
I think this is probably an old article – well at least from a few days ago? Go on Sally-Ann you can go back to Boris this time …
In all fairness to our MP, Ms Hart, she publicly acknowledged in this newspaper immediately after Truss was elected, that she voted for Sunak and in the same article gave her support to wind turbines being installed off the coast by Dungeness. Her reasoning, which seems sound, is that the infrastructure to carry electricity is already in place at Dungeness and there is an opportunity to create a large wind farm. I would agree, it seems an ideal place to create a wind farm and in the years ahead when the reactor is shut, add a few further turbines on land in their place.
Her later vote to continue to support fracking was hugely disappointing, however. There are so many advantages to wind turbines over fracking and one important one concerns their future. If we are to develop safer nuclear power or other forms of energy generation such as hydrogen reactors, some wind turbines could potentially be removed with no impact to the environment (a concrete slab is left in the ground), whereas the environmental impact of fracking with the release of toxic chemicals underground will take a hundred years or longer to disperse with continued danger to water supplies.