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Diana Johnson's Speeches In Parliament Related to Climate

We've found 29 Parliamentary debates in which Diana Johnson has spoken about climate-related matters.

Here are the relevant sections of their speeches.

• 8 Dec 2022: International Human Rights Day

  14:50

  I want to raise the issue of cuts to UK aid. The needs of people in the world appear to be increasing as a result of conflict, growing authoritarianism, ethnic and religious persecution, climate change and so on, yet our aid budget is decreasing. We obviously cannot do more with less. As a constituency MP for Hull, I understand that the needs of this country are also growing and acute, particularly given the cost of living crisis, which is badly affecting so many of our constituents.

  It is, however, short-sighted to believe that cutting the assistance provided to individuals and countries globally is a helpful response. We should push back against dictatorship, support human rights defenders and peacebuilders, prevent and promote accountability for atrocities and sexual violence, and uphold the international human rights framework at home and abroad, not only on moral grounds but because they are smart things to do—particularly in terms of our own security, better trading opportunities and enhanced international co-operation on terrorism, organised crime and climate change.

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• 20 Jul 2022: Heatwave Response

  I think that this is the first opportunity I have had to congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his new role. We shall miss scrutinising him on the Home Affairs Committee. Can I also add my thanks to the emergency services for everything they did yesterday to save property and lives? As the Minister has said, there is a White Paper out about the fire and rescue services, and its consultation has a deadline of 26 July, which I think is Sunday. In the light of the fact that the Home Affairs Committee will be looking at this in the autumn, I wonder whether it would be sensible to extend that deadline. The events of this week show that there is clear evidence of climate change-driven volatility, which will have serious implications for the fire and rescue services. This might be a good time to reflect on that before submitting to the consultation, so if the deadline could be extended, that would be helpful.

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• 16 May 2022: Making Britain the Best Place to Grow Up and Grow Old

  17:41

  We all know that a growing UK economy is the key to improving standards of living, ending poverty and having well-funded public services, but we are stuck with low productivity, low growth, high inflation and high taxes. Escaping that requires a major contribution from the Humber. Hull is a freeport city with a multi-sector industrial base; it has the UK’s fastest-growing digital economy, a strong local arts sector and a great university. New maritime industries are expanding around the green energy estuary, and there are opportunities for growth, ending fuel poverty and energy security.

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• 15 Nov 2021: COP26

  In order to meet our commitments on net zero, the Humber energy estuary will play a vital role. So I am at a bit of a loss to understand why, in all the briefings over the weekend about the integrated rail review, we in the Humber will get nothing in terms of greener, faster connectivity. There will be no coast-to-coast Northern Powerhouse Rail, despite what the Prime Minister has promised in the past, and no benefit from HS2 to the east of Leeds. So, Prime Minister, I just wondered whether you could comment on the fact that the Humber is not getting much—

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• 26 Oct 2021: Electrification of the Hull to Selby railway line

  18:20

  Hull is a city of ambition, aspiration and enterprise—we are the energy estuary, a freeport and a recent UK city of culture—but that has not been reflected in our worsening rail services. Tomorrow’s spending review, and the integrated rail plan expected in November, will show whether the Government are serious about levelling up the whole of the north and about green transport ahead of COP26. Hull’s MPs have also written to Ministers setting out seven tests on levelling up for transport.

  Declares that rail links to Hull are among the poorest in the north of England; further that the current train service reliability of 60 per cent or lower means it is quicker to travel to Leeds by road; further that the Humberside economy is increasingly supplying renewable energy but poor rail connections to Hull and the port do not encourage sustainable transport choices; further that electrifying the Leeds to Hull route via Selby, and significantly upgrading the railway line between Sheffield and Hull via Goole, will permit cleaner, faster and more reliable trains to run in and out of Hull; further that this will provide an electrified railway from east to west and allow freight to cross coast to coast more efficiently; and notes that the Government has committed to a carbon neutral economy by 2050.

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• 19 Nov 2020: UK Trade Policy: US Presidential Election

  As one of the MPs for the Humber energy estuary, where we are doing pioneering work in areas such as carbon capture, I find it heartwarming to hear American President-elect Biden talking about the global climate crisis and the action needed to address it, and seeing this as a way of generating the jobs of the future. Will the Secretary of State expand a little on what she thinks can be put into any trade deals in terms of this country’s green technology and making sure it creates the jobs needed on both this side of the Atlantic and the other?

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• 18 Nov 2020: Covid-19

  17:48

  In, Hull’s covid infection rate is expected to be very high for days and weeks to come. This cannot wait. We need answers. In Hull we have often had to make our own luck in areas such as green energy. We are proud, resilient and resourceful, but we need help now.

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• 9 Nov 2020: Future of Financial Services

  As the shadow Chancellor pointed out in her excellent remarks, the United Kingdom, under successive Tory Governments over the past decade, has pumped £6 billion into climate-damaging fossil fuel projects overseas via UK Export Finance. Will the Chancellor now commit to ban this activity immediately and make it a priority to invest in British green energy industries in places such as the Humber estuary and to create the future jobs we need for a real green northern powerhouse?

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• 9 Jun 2020: Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill (First sitting)

  Q I want to ask about an issue that Make UK raised in their evidence. They talked about the lack of people with the relevant green-skills qualifications that we need. We know from today’s news that we are relying on renewable energy at the moment, and moving away from coal. The evidence they gave was that a lot of the people with those skills are based in Denmark and Germany. Listening to what you said, there is obviously a longer term issue about skilling up our own population. Could you explain how the provisions the Government are introducing will assist us now in dealing with the shortages that we have in that important sector, around offshore wind and renewables generally?

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• 9 May 2019: Business of the House

  11:52

  The Leader of the House has already talked about climate change this morning, and the Environment Agency has produced a report today about flooding. With rising sea levels and river flooding, 55,000 houses in the Humber estuary are at risk. May we have a debate about what new opportunities there are in tackling climate change and flood defences, and where we see it as an opportunity, not a burden, to develop the new industries that the Environment Agency says we need? For example, there is the proposal for a Hull lagoon from the Humber bridge to the port, which is championed by local businesses led by Tim Rix and which would help to protect the Humber estuary and regenerate the city of Hull.

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• 8 Mar 2018: Church Investors Group

  3. What proposals the Church Commissioners have as part of the Church Investors Group for holding businesses to account on executive pay and climate change measures.

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  10:18

  Will the right hon. Lady set out in a little more detail the approach that the Church Commissioners are taking to ensure that businesses take the issue of climate change very seriously?

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• 5 Sep 2016: Exiting the European Union

  18:17

  I congratulate my parliamentary neighbour on his appointment. As he knows, the Humber estuary is fast becoming the UK energy estuary, with Siemens investing massively in Hull and having the potential to export to the single market. Trade deals with Australia will not really cut it in Hull, so will the Secretary of State agree to meet a delegation from the Humber to make sure that the green energy industry benefits from the huge and exciting opportunities that he has talked about?

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• 2 Mar 2016: Egypt: British Support

  15:03

  It is clear that over the past two years, the Government have improved relations with Egypt. Since the election of President Sisi in June 2014, albeit on quite a small turnout, the Government have gone out of their way to build relations with the Sisi Government, and I welcome many aspects of this Government’s work to improve those relations. First, as I have said, it is very important that we co-operate on security and countering extremism. Secondly, as an MP for Hull, which is a key centre for renewable energy, I was very pleased to see the memorandum of understanding signed on a multibillion pound renewable energy deal with a British company. Thirdly, I am very pleased to see that 2016 is the year of British-Egyptian co-operation on science, innovation and higher education.

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• 11 Feb 2016: Topical Questions

  T9. The Select Committee has found that scrapping the Government’s support for carbon capture and storage technology puts at risk the UK’s international commitments on tackling climate change and makes it more expensive to do this. We have also lost out on about £250 million-worth of EU investment. Can the Minister just explain to me how this makes sense?

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• 14 Dec 2015: Climate Change Agreement

  Investors in renewable energy tell me that they want certainty from the Government’s energy policy. Can the Secretary of State set out the key targets and milestones for the implementation of the Paris agreement to provide the certainty that is necessary for investment to be made in renewables?

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• 3 Dec 2015: Business of the House

  I first raised with the Leader of the House on 17 September the issue of the national wind college which was going to be based in the Humber. In the comprehensive spending review statement last week, five colleges were announced, but not one for the Humber area specialising in wind energy. May we have a debate in Government time on the commitment to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind energy, and why, if the Government are serious about the northern powerhouse, Hull and the Humber seem to have been missed out yet again?

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• 9 Jul 2015: Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

  15:15

  I also want to talk about renewables. The Humber area is working hard to be the UK’s renewable energy estuary, in the interests of energy security, of fighting fuel poverty and climate change and of growing this important area of our economy for the nation. It is therefore unhelpful to keep getting so much hostility to renewable energy from those on the Government Benches. The Budget introduces a change to the climate change levy, which will now also apply to companies that use renewable energy. That will effectively be a charge of £490 million for companies that have switched to renewable energy, and it will discourage firms from using renewable energy in the future. By 2020, the cut will amount to £910 million a year, which will discourage investment in renewable energy sources.

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• 10 Jun 2015: G7

  If we are to play our part in meeting the G7’s commitment to eliminate the use of fossil fuels in this century, we will need binding targets such as the 2030 decarbonisation target, which could bring huge investment to areas such as Hull. Will the Prime Minister commit to bringing in such a binding target in the next two years?

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• 11 Sep 2014: Topical Questions

  10:17

  T2. In asking my question, I want to make it clear that I want the Scots to remain our countrymen and women and not to become our competitors. The Government set up the UK Green Investment Bank in 2012 to boost investment in green technology and enterprise across the United Kingdom. With Hull and the Humber area emerging as a major UK centre for green energy and renewables, we would have extended a very warm welcome to having the bank in Hull. However, as we all know, its main headquarters is in Edinburgh, so can the Secretary of State just confirm that the UK Green Investment Bank can only be located within the United Kingdom?

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• 25 Mar 2014: City Deals

  11:42

  I think that we all agree that cities are best placed to make decisions about regeneration funding and what is best for their local populations. As the Deputy Prime Minister rightly points out, a great example of that is the announcement this morning of Siemens’s investment in renewables, which means that Hull will be not only the city of culture, but the city of energy. Given that that success was made in Hull, will he congratulate, in particular, the Hull business community and Hull’s Labour council, because without them this would not have happened? Finally, does he agree that if we had listened to the climate change-denying UK Independence party, those jobs would be going abroad?

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• 19 Mar 2014: Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

  16:47

  I listened very carefully to what the Chancellor said about building a resilient economy and delivering security for people in this country. Hull and the Humber should be at the forefront of fighting many of the challenges facing this country, such as climate change, generating green energy and developing the science of flood prevention. I believe we could turn issues that are seen as problems and costs into a positive opportunity for growth in the economy, but looking at this Budget in relation to Hull and the Humber, my constituents will be asking the following questions. Does this Budget help the real wealth creators and invest in the modern public services an efficient, growing economy needs? Does it help, for example, the part-time women workers I recently met in a Tesco in Hull who told me about the problems they were having in getting extra hours to make ends meet and pay their bills?

  Thanks to the coalition’s confusion over energy policy, we are still awaiting good news from Siemens. If Siemens does not come to Hull, the jobs building wind turbines will in effect be exported out of the UK. Climate change deniers in UKIP might welcome that, but it would be a disaster for the economic regeneration of my city. The Budget also failed to announce rail electrification to Hull, but I hope that the Government will have some good news for us shortly.

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• 26 Feb 2014: Flooding

  18:19

  With climate change leading to rising water levels and more frequent volatile weather, the scientific advice is that flooding will occur more regularly in a larger proportion of the country. This small country cannot write off the major towns, cities and areas of farmland that are now at risk of more regular flooding. Yes, there are limits on what we can afford to do, but we need to think too about the limits on what we can afford not to do.

  The free market and little England approach does not equip us to face these issues. Climate change deniers such as those in the UK Independence party also do not help. They want to wreck Hull’s hopes for wind turbine jobs and send them abroad. Some of its members even appear to hold the view that same-sex marriage is responsible for the flooding.

  Let us turn a major problem into an opportunity for economic growth. We could invest in flood defence infrastructure and support renewable energy with a balanced energy policy so that we meet our future energy needs in a way that also combats climate change.

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• 6 Jun 2013: Decarbonisation Target

  15. What representations he has received on setting a target to decarbonise the power sector by 2030.

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• 27 Nov 2012: Humber Economy (Fiscal Support)

  09:57

  What is the plan for Hull and the Humber? As we have already heard, the Humber LEP has recognised renewables as a key area for economic growth. Hull’s geographical position is its great strength, with its proximity to the North sea and the largest offshore wind farms in the world. The North sea has been described as the Saudi Arabia of renewables, and the Humber area has the potential to be a world centre of excellence for renewables. As hon. Members have already said, potential green energy investors have identified Hull and the Humber as their preferred location, but such investors need long-term reassurance that the coalition is committed to renewables and has a coherent energy policy across the whole Government.

  There is serious international competition for the new green energy jobs. If companies such as Siemens do not come to Hull, they will be lost to the UK altogether. This is about potential growth not only for the Humber but for the whole UK economy. The coalition needs to be as interested in attracting Siemens and green jobs to Hull as it is in attracting jobs that benefit Surrey or London. Although various big tax incentives were offered to investors in London docklands, MPs in our region have had to fight off plans to introduce the caravan tax on an existing industry and to fight for enterprise zones to attract future industries to the area. We are still waiting to see the effectiveness of such enterprise zones.

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• 28 Jun 2012: Green Economy

  14:54

  I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her intervention. I will talk about the regional growth fund, but under the previous Government funding was made available for ports so that they could develop projects such as the wind turbine manufacturing that I mentioned. We need to recognise that not only the previous Government but, to give them some credit, this Government have taken steps to support the green economy through wind turbine manufacturing. I think it is a combination of the two things. I do not think we can deny that the previous Government did a lot around the green economy, with the very important legislation in the Climate Change Act 2008, which was the first of its kind in the world. I will come to the regional growth fund in a moment.

  I hope there is cross-party support for the motion. Labour introduced the Climate Change Act. We are committed to a green economy, and I very much hope that the Conservatives will fulfil their promise to be the greenest Government ever.

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• 15 Sep 2011: Business of the House

  12:30

  I am very pleased that the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills have now said that bringing Siemens to Hull is a key priority for the Government, but may we have a debate so that we can learn whether Department of Energy and Climate Change Ministers have a long-term commitment to the offshore wind energy sector?

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• 7 Jul 2011: Topical Questions

  11:26

  In relation to the Humber ports, the Minister talked earlier about the £60 million that is available for the development of green energy on the portside, but that was an announcement by the previous Labour Government of course. In terms of the job opportunities for my constituents, can he explain the targeted assistance that will be available to Hull?

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• 23 Mar 2011: Amendment of the Law

  17:02

  The proposal for a business-led solution to deal with economic growth in the regions appears sensible. In my area, however, local authority politicians on Conservative-led East Yorkshire council and Liberal Democrat-led Hull council have been squabbling among themselves. The business leaders have made it clear that they want a pan-Humber LEP that will bring the economy together on the north and south banks of the Humber. As I said, we have had the wonderful announcement from Siemens on the future of renewable energy in our area, but because of the way in which the local councils in East Riding and Hull are behaving, the business community has been left without an LEP; the Business Secretary would not agree to one because it did not have the support of the business community.

  This just shows that the Government’s approach is flawed. My area desperately needs economic growth, yet it has been left with no LEP and with the council in Hull squabbling with the councils on the south bank of the Humber. We have great potential for growth in the renewable energy sector, but there is no co-ordinating force. The idea is that LEPs will lead us into the growth strategy that we all want to see, but that is not going to happen in my area.

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• 27 Jan 2011: Road Schemes (East Yorkshire)

  10:46

  As the Secretary of State has said, in the October announcement the upgrade of the A63 was put back until at least 2015. Since then, we have had the announcement from Siemens that it will develop the green energy industry along the Humber. In light of that announcement, will the Secretary of State think again? The A63 upgrade would have a positive impact on the economic regeneration of east Yorkshire and local businesses are really pushing for it.

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See all Parliamentary Speeches Mentioning Climate