MP to chair national roundtable meeting to boost access to radiotherapy
South Lakes MP Tim Farron will chair a national meeting next week to discuss how to improve access to cancer services across the country.
20 Apr 2018
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
Help needed in Donington, Quadring and Gosberton
Leaflets for the Donington, Quadring and Gosberton by-election have arrived. Who's up for helping with distribution this weekend or next week?
NO
20 Apr 2018
Lib Dem Gain in Warrington
Congratulations to Anna Fradgley and our team in Warrington! The Lib Dems gained a Borough Council seat from the Conservatives last night in Lymm South ward of Warrington council.
20 Apr 2018
Lib Dem Lawyers’ Open Memo calls for more vocal party support for legal aid
Imagine you are charged with a criminal offence. It has the potential to result in loss of your freedom, reputation, job, family, custody of your children and so on. You will want a trained professional to help you. Someone to explain to you the law that applies to the offence, what the state needs to prove against you and what defences may be available. Someone to scrutinise the evidence against you objectively and assist you in presenting your defence. Someone to protect you from any abuses of power by the state's police or prosecutors. And if you are guilty, someone to help you explain to the court any good reasons for a measure of leniency that might apply before you are punished.
AH
20 Apr 2018
Firms should pay for people's data, says Vince Cable
People should be "empowered" to sell their own data if they want to, to share in the profits of technological advances, Sir Vince Cable has said.
20 Apr 2018
Robert Eggleston presses for a People's Vote
Our prospective parliamentary candidate Robert Eggleston was joined by local campaigner Colin Wilsdon at the People's Vote stall in Burgess Hill. The People's Vote is a cross-party campaign that was launched to give everyone a say in the final Brexit deal. The event was a success with several hundred people signing the petition for a People's Vote.
20 Apr 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!”
