Amendment to Queens Speech for a Peoples Vote
The Liberal Democrats have filed an amendment to the Queen's Speech today to support a People's Vote to give the people of the United Kingdom a vote o...
RH
23 Oct 2019
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
15 Oct 2019 Haddenham Social Meet & Greet
You may have noticed an increased activity from the Buckingham Liberal Democrats lately.
23 Oct 2019
Pupils and parents are being failed by SEND support crisis
Responding to the publication today (23/10/19) of the Education Select Committee's report on children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Brentwood & Ongar David Kendall said: "Children with SEND have borne the brunt of the schools funding crisis. Teaching assistants and other support staff have been sacked. Meanwhile, parents struggle to get the support their child needs as schools, healthcare providers and local councils squabble over who should pay. "The Conservatives have left local councils floundering. Councils cannot provide support on time and are unable to to create the new specialist school places that some children with the most complex needs require. "Liberal Democrats demand better for our children. We will give councils thousands of pounds a year extra for every child with the most complex needs, so they can deliver the support children deserve on time and we will create a new National SEND strategy, stopping councils from cutt
23 Oct 2019
The UK reverts to Greenwich Mean Time at 2am on Sunday
The UK reverts to Greenwich Mean Time at 2am on Sunday, October 27 when all clocks are turned back to 1am at that time.
SH
23 Oct 2019
View from here - Our Parliamentary Candidate's perspective
22nd October 2019
EN
23 Oct 2019
The “Number 10 probes Remain MPs’ ‘foreign collusion’ story was 'fake news'
"Number 10 probes Remain MPs' 'foreign collusion'." This was a huge banner headline dominating the front page of The Mail on Sunday on 29 September.
23 Oct 2019
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!”
