All of the pieces of legislation announced by His Majesty today, including the Renters (Reform) and Victims and Prisoners Bills.
The sum total of all this is that Hunt’s wiggle room for tax cuts this Autumn is shrinking even further.
You can not control retail prices if you have no influence on the wholesale market. If the cap were removed now, it would give suppliers the freedom to compete more aggressively on price and service.
We set out our plan in Policy Exchange’s latest report, What do we Want from the King’s Speech, along with proposals for 13 other Bills.
My hunch is the next generation of aspiring leaders will have a firmer grip on the meaning of conservatism than the current crop. Or, at least, I hope so — otherwise there might not be a party to lead.
The national humiliation, The out-of-control budgets. The broken political promises. What most drives one to despair is the opportunity cost.
In terms of party management, the Prime Minister seems to have pulled it off – at least for the time being and as far as Tory MPs are concerned.
The Chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group adds that “we haven’t even got the renewable sources to cover the 20 per cent of energy we use, but we’re talking about replacing the 80 per cent with renewables.”
I believe firmly that it is in our environmental, economic, moral, and – yes – political interests as Conservatives to make sure we lead on this issue rather than talk it down. We shouldn’t be coy about putting forward this positive vision.
The announcements made today are a positive continuation of our existing environmental policy, and a fine example of the Prime Minister’s pragmatic, and somewhat unsentimental approach to the major issues of the day.
“So I’ll have no truck with anyone saying we lack ambition. But there’s nothing ambitious about merely asserting a goal for a short-term headline without being honest with the public about the tough choices and sacrifices involved.”
“Can we be brave in the decisions we make, even if there is a political cost? Can we be honest when the facts change, even if it’s awkward?”
Shifting heating and transport to electric devices only disguises emissions unless they are powered by a clean grid – and even if not, the extra demand on the system will require vast amounts of new cables and pylons.
The First Minister stands accused of having officials draw up new statistics to “reverse engineer” an excuse for his wildly inaccurate statements about an independent Scotland’s energy potential.
In recent weeks, there has been questioning of our commitment to tackling climate change. I strongly refute this.