2025: Week 9 - Energy, tariffs and parking
This week the Government have announced planning reforms which will allow 150 major projects such as solar farms or wind turbines to go ahead, as part of their plan to drive economic growth. The Liberal Democrats have been championing renewable energy for years, and so it is encouraging to see Labour pushing forward on this.
New infrastructure to support the electricity grid must be built to connect renewable energy to families and businesses across the country who need it. Infrastructure to support an increase in grid capacity must protect our natural environment and be built in lockstep with communities. After years of Conservative mismanagement, we are in desperate need of a strategic and joined up approach to balance the competing demands on land and determine where infrastructure is placed to best benefit our communities, our environment and our economy. Liberal Democrats will push the Government to empower local authorities to develop local renewable electricity generation and storage strategies and give small low-carbon generators the right to export their electricity to an existing electricity supplier on fair terms.
It is concerning that the tariffs recently imposed by Trump are escalating, especially between the US and Canada. This has come after Ontario state imposed a 25% surcharge on exports of electricity to US states. Trump’s response was to raise tariffs a further 25% on steel and aluminium importing into the US from Canada. He also repeated his threat to make Canada the 51st state. Whilst this is all happening away from our country, we need to watch with caution and hope that our Prime Minister has the negotiating skills and diplomacy needed to prevent a similar situation between the UK and the US. It will be interesting to see how the incoming Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, handles the situation, with his vast experience of being the governor of both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada one would hope that he will be able prevent his country from falling into recession whilst standing up to Trump and his bullying tactics.
Closer to home I’m continuing my campaign to call for an independent parking regulator to monitor the actions of private parking companies and provide a fair and standardised process for customers when using these car parks. Currently, there is no independent regulatory body responsible for oversight of these ventures, and the private parking companies, whilst working within published guidance often create a very difficult and obtuse system for customers to navigate if they wish to appeal a parking charge notice. An independent regulator would standardise the process and be able to mediate between customers and companies should the need arise. My Early Day Motion to the House has been signed by 36 MPs to date, and I’ve also had meetings with the AA and RAC as they are keen to add their voices to the campaign. The next step is to request a debate on the subject which I have done this week. I will not let this one go!