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.