In Parliament
There is info via the links below on the different
mechanisms available to MPs and how to look up what I and other MPs have been doing...
My contributions to debates
Parliamentary Questions
Early Day Motions
Private Members' Bills
Adjournment Debates
Business in the House of Commons
I am pictured above asking Tony Blair a question about housing at Prime
Minister's Question Time on 28 June 2006 (click here for how to look
up questions)
The following is an example of an oral Parliamentary
Question that I put to the Chancellor on Climate Change:
6 Mar 2008 : Column 1904
Lynne Jones (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab): In
2006, Sir Nicholas Stern told the Chancellor’s predecessor that expenditure of
approximately 1 per cent. of GDP would be necessary to avoid dangerous climate change,
which could result in the loss of between 5 and 20 per cent. of GDP. In 2008, what is the
Chancellor’s estimate of the proportion of the UK’s GDP that will be spent on
reducing our carbon dioxide emissions?
Mr. Darling: It is important that we follow
Sir Nicholas Stern’s advice. My hon. Friend is right that his findings, which I do
not think have been disputed by any serious commentator, are that unless we are prepared
to make the necessary investment now to tackle climate change, we will pay a heavy price
in terms of loss of GDP not just in our country, but across the world. The Government will
keep that under continuous review, and the sums that we are spending on tackling climate
change are reflected in the additional money that has been given to Departments right
across the piece. She is right that we must make the necessary investment over the next
few years if we are to tackle climate change and ensure economic growth in the future.
I followed up the above oral question with a written question:
25 Mar 2008 : Column 35W
Lynne Jones (Birmingham, Selly Oak): To
ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the proportion of GDP
that will be spent in the UK in the 2008-09 financial year on measures to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions. (195240)
Angela Eagle: The Government use a package
of policy instruments to reduce emissions. Spending measures are important, but form only
one element alongside, for example, regulation, fiscal measures and trading schemes. These
stimulate behaviour change and investment both here and outside the UK. The Government do
not make an annual estimate of the amount spent in the UK on reducing carbon dioxide
emissions, though it does publish annual emissions data.
However, modelling has been conducted for the
Energy White Paper to assess the potential costs to the UK economy from meeting its
long-term targets. Analysis for the 2020 target suggests that (under a hypothetical
scenario and subject to appropriate caveats) acting unilaterally, UK GDP will be lower by
1.7 per cent. in 2020 compared with no action; that acting multilaterally reduces this
impact to 1.3 per cent. of UK GDP in 2020; and that achieving a 30 per cent. reduction in
carbon emissions would cost 0.6 per cent. of GDP in 2020 if the UK purchased abatement
abroad.
