Welcome to our website
Welcome to the new Gainsborough Constituency Liberal Democrat website.
LR
11 Mar 2018
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
CIL Bids in Weybridge
When most new developments in Weybridge are built the developer has to pay a tax referred to as CIL (Community Infrastru...
11 Mar 2018
Cable challenges May and Corbyn to live TV debate on Brexit
Ahead of this weekend's Liberal Democrat party conference in Southport, leader Vince Cable has challenged the Conservative and Labour leaders to a live TV debate on Brexit:
MP
10 Mar 2018
LITTER PICKERS CLEAN UP GOLDEN VALLEY BY-PASS
A litter picking crew from Tewkesbury Borough Council has spent three days clearing up litter from the A40 Golden Valley running between Cheltenham and Gloucester.
10 Mar 2018
Conservatives fail again on the Environment
Speaking from the Liberal Democrats Conference in Southport, Ladywood Parliamentary Spokesperson, Lee Dargue, criticised the Government's decision to ignore the growing calls for a levy on throwaway cups: "As with so many other areas in government, the Conservatives refused to accept, and act upon, evidence. The public is increasingly supportive of the Liberal Democrat call for a 25p charge on throwaway cups for coffee - the aim being to increase the use of reusable cups. "In government, the LibDems broke through resistance from Conservatives to introduce a 5p charge on throwaway shopping bags. Literally billions of shopping bags are now re-used and not immediately thrown away. "LibDems led the way in government on environmental protection - we will not back down now, despite the best efforts of the Tories to ignore the damaging impact of plastic on our environment."
9 Mar 2018
Lib Dems gain seat from Conservatives with a 36% swing as 6 out of 8 seats change hands
After last week's full slate of Lib Dem candidates, this week's contestation rate slipped back to three quarters with six Lib Dem candidates in the eight seats. Disappointingly, that's down one on when these seats were last fought.
MP
9 Mar 2018
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and spokesperson for Energy Security and Net Zero, called on the government to provide incentives for energy providers to develop solar power in the UK.
Mrs Hobhouse slammed the government for falling behind on meeting the UK’s renewable targets for solar energy capacity. The government plans to deploy 70 GW of solar power across the country by 2035. However, as of 2022, the UK had only installed 14.3 GW of solar pv.
Following a visit to a rooftop solar system installed by Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE) at Beechen Cliff School last year, Wera Hobhouse is keen to encourage the development of similar solar projects across Bath. The solar system is predicted to significantly cut the school’s fuel costs and reduce their carbon emissions by 52 tonnes a year.
In the House of Commons on the 27th February, the Bath MP noted that the UK is lagging behind the rest of the world in renewable energy investment, she urged the government to offer incentives to energy providers to improve solar capacity.
However, Andrew Bowie, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero, ignored Hobhouse’s proposals, failing to describe the ways in which the government could incentivise solar energy. Instead, Bowie said that the government’s Solar Taskforce would publish recommendations for solar power and reiterated the government’s target to deploy 70 GW by 2035.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and spokesperson for Energy Security and Net Zero, commented:
“The Conservatives are falling dangerously behind on meeting our targets for renewable energy production. It is no good the government setting an ambitious 70 GW solar target if they are nowhere near reaching it.
“It is clear that they have no plan to get us back on track to reach Net Zero. Evidently, they are more than happy to dismiss perfectly good proposals like incentivising solar power. That is why I am so proud that Bath is home to many community energy projects like the solar system at Beechen Cliff School, so that we can lead the way in renewables.”
“It is not just our climate targets harmed by the Conservatives’ delay. Families in Bath and across the country are struggling to pay soaring energy bills which investment in renewables could curb. That is why we Liberal Democrats would build significantly more renewable energy, aiming to generate 80% of our electricity from renewables by 2030.”
Peter Capener, Managing Director of Bath & West Community Energy said:
“Our work with schools is really demonstrating the value of community energy in both addressing the climate crisis and reducing fuel bills. Rooftop solar installed last year has already saved local schools a combined total of £134,209 and has reduced carbon emissions by 224.3 tonnes, which is equivalent to 12,173 journeys from Bath to Edinburgh by train!”
