Pippa Heylings

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1. 2 Nov 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

   Budget Resolutions

   As we head into winter with bills rising again in January, households and businesses across the country are worried. This Budget needed to match the scale of the energy and climate challenges, but we as Liberal Democrats are concerned that it does not. While the standing charge removal and the proposed energy bill cost control framework are welcome, struggling households cannot wait until the next spending review in 2027 for policy costs to be taken off bills—one of the quickest ways to reduce bills while supporting electrification. The Government could have introduced the Liberal Democrat essential energy guarantee to protect basic household energy needs. If we are truly to break free from the volatile fossil fuel prices driven by despots and Trump’s stupid wars, we must accelerate renewables, grid connections and electrification. That is why I am disturbed by the seeming inconsistencies in the approach taken in the Budget. First, the Treasury says that it is setting an entirely new path on energy, while Ministers tell us that their clean energy ambitions remain unchanged. With the allocation round 8 auction budget due within weeks, Ministers must urgently clarify what that means for investment certainty in floating offshore wind and port regeneration, which is critical for supply costs and supply chains.<span id="639" class="column-number" data-column-number="639"></span> Secondly, cheaper energy does not automatically lead to electrification on its own. As winter approaches, why is the Treasury cutting the flagship warm homes plan—the surest way to electrify heating in our homes and reduce wasted wind energy? The Budget slashes £1 billion of capital funding from the programme and reintroduces VAT on clean technologies from 2027, effectively creating a solar panel and heat pump tax. I ask the Minister to confirm or deny reports that a further £1.5 billion could be removed from the warm homes plan’s financial transactions funding. That is the very zero-interest loan schemes that have just been launched and lauded. With 90% of domestic bill increases since 2020 linked to wholesale gas price spikes, despite and contrary to all the protestations from the Conservatives and Reform, the answer is clear: a national electrification strategy, making it easier, not harder, for households to move away from fossil fuels. This Budget should have advanced that mission; instead, it risks setting Britain back.

   Hansard source
2. 29 Oct 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

   Business of the House

   Families across Cambridgeshire have been waiting years for the two new special schools in Gamlingay and March. Following meetings with two Ministers, we finally had confirmation from the Government that they will be built, and we were thankful for that. However, there has been radio silence since, which means that 270 special school places are in limbo. In July, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Education to ask for an update on the timeline for construction, and I have heard nothing. Will the Leader of the House please help me secure a further meeting and swift confirmation of the timeline for opening both schools so that our children, schools and local authorities are no longer left in the dark?

   Hansard source
3. 29 Oct 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

   Local Government Reorganisation

   Liberal Democrats support genuine devolution and shifting power out of Westminster, but we have been shocked by the Government’s botched handling of this process. Ministers promised that MPs and local leaders would be properly involved in decisions affecting their areas, yet many have been left in the dark until announcements were effectively made for them. Will the Minister explain why MPs representing affected areas were not briefed before today’s announcement?<span id="468" class="column-number" data-column-number="468"></span> Even now, after months of confusion over local government reorganisation, delayed elections and significant abortive costs, councils and communities are still waiting for certainty. Local authorities, many in dire financial positions following years of under-investment, have spent time and money in good faith preparing these proposals according to the Government’s criteria and timetable, only for that timetable to shift repeatedly. In my constituency of South Cambridgeshire, one of the fastest growing areas in the country, businesses need certainty to invest and plan. Councils need certainty to set budgets and deliver services, and council staff deserve clarity about their future. Yet today’s statement leaves Cambridgeshire and Peterborough yet again awaiting a decision, while other areas move ahead. When will the Minister finally provide a clear and stable timetable for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and for other areas that are still awaiting decisions? Finally, following the chaos of decisions being withdrawn, reorganisation being paused and the programme being reviewed following updated legal advice, can the Secretary of State even guarantee that what is being announced today is legally sound? Will she now publish the legal advice to demonstrate that?

   Hansard source
4. 21 Oct 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

   Jackdaw Gasfield

   Today’s approval of Jackdaw, in the midst of a climate crisis, is proof that Britain has not moved forward nearly fast enough on reducing our reliance on gas and oil. The Supreme Court judgment requires analysis of scope 3 carbon emissions of gas and oil licences, so the Government must demonstrate that their decision to approve Jackdaw is compatible with our climate commitments, not just our net zero targets. What is not compatible with our climate targets is our continued dependence on gas: 80% of UK households still heat their homes with gas. Heat pumps provide heating for just 2% of households in the UK. We hear that the Government plan to cut heat pump subsidies to homeowners who want to come off gas. The world has changed; we have had two global energy crises in five years. About a quarter of UK gas demand is supplied by imported liquefied natural gas. Our energy security is not strengthened by the fact that 70% of that comes from the US, given that Trump is prepared to turn that gas off. Let me be clear: Jackdaw will not bring down bills. It will meet about 2% of UK gas demand. It will play a limited, short-term role, while displacing more polluting and insecure imports. This decision must be the tipping point for transformative investment in renewables and electrification. With respect to our climate obligations, what will the Government do to account for scope 3 emissions, beyond the territorial emissions in our net zero targets? Will the Minister commit to £15 billion of funding for the warm homes plan, and support the Liberal Democrats’ call for a national electrification strategy to drive down our dependence on gas for good?

   Hansard source
5. 13 Oct 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

   Gas and Electricity Prices

   Households and businesses have been left at the mercy of a broken energy system, and they are paying the price. As we have heard, gas is still setting the price of electricity. Gas is now at a three-year high and is due to go up again in January, when energy use goes up. While other European countries are responding to the energy crisis by accelerating electrification, we in the UK do not have a plan. Does the Secretary of State therefore agree with us that we need a national electrification strategy to bring down bills, to decouple gas from electricity and to make the most of our increasing renewables?

   Hansard source
6. 13 Oct 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

   Warm Homes Scheme: Cooling Measures

   The new norms of extreme weather that we are now seeing, caused by climate change, mean that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) has said, we have to think about not only warming our homes, but cooling them. Thousands of families are dipping into hard-earned savings to install heat pumps and to cut emissions. In my constituency of South Cambridgeshire, we are 25th in the country for heat pump uptake—I am really proud of that—as a result of heat pump subsidies, so I am really worried by rumours that the Government are considering deep cuts to the warm homes plan. Would the Minister agree with me that failing to electrify at scale keeps us needlessly chained to overseas gas and volatile petrostates, and that to rob energy security to fund defence is a fool’s errand?

   Hansard source
7. 12 Oct 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

   Rejoining the EU

   It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. I thank the petitioners for bringing forward the petition. In the referendum, South Cambridgeshire was one of the strongest remain-voting constituencies in the country, and many of my constituents have signed this petition. We all respect the result, but 10 years on, we have a responsibility to look honestly at the consequences and costs of Brexit and the relationship that we do want with Europe, so that we can strengthen our economy, security, immigration, energy independence, climate and nature recovery. In South Cambridgeshire, we see the impacts and consequences clearly. Our farmers have faced costs and red tape because the UK lost alignment with EU sanitary and phytosanitary rules, leading to additional, burdensome checks on animal and plant shipments. Our universities and life science research have faced barriers to world-class collaboration, particularly in relation to our exclusion from Horizon until 2024. Our young people have lost the right to live, work and travel across Europe, and I ask the Minister to confirm that we will rejoin the Erasmus scheme. Cambridgeshire chamber of commerce told me that in its latest survey, one in five businesses reported falling overseas sales, alongside increased paperwork and higher export costs. On the cost of living, by taking the UK out of the EU’s energy market, the Conservatives created barriers to trading electricity with our nearest neighbours. According to Energy UK, that has increased the cost of electricity imports by up to £370 million a year, with cumulative costs potentially reaching £10 billion by 2030. Will the Minister confirm that the upcoming UK-EU summit will enable the UK to rejoin the EU internal electricity market? Brexit has also had an environmental cost. Many Brexiteers wanted environmental deregulation, and since Brexit, we have seen Britain diverge from European standards, including in areas such as tackling deforestation and saving primary tropical forests, on which we have been far outpaced by the EU. The lesson of the last decade is clear: Britain benefits when it works closely with its closest European neighbours. Will the Minister confirm that he will scrap the red lines and join the Liberal Democrats in calling for a new growth and defence partnership with the EU? By joining the customs union, the single market and the internal electricity market, we can collectively boost growth, create jobs, strengthen immigration, raise living standards and make Britain safer, as well as recover our nature and tackle climate change together.

   Hansard source
8. 12 Oct 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

   The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (Calculation of CBAM Rate and Determination of Carbon Price Relief) Regulations 2026

   We Liberal Democrats support the carbon border adjustment mechanism. We have long supported action to support businesses, create incentives to prevent carbon leakage and ensure that the transition to net zero is both environmentally effective and economically fair. That is particularly important for farmers and agriculture, especially after the summer of extreme heat that we have just seen. Over the past five years, farmers have seen the worst three harvests on record, so tackling climate change is at the top of their mind. They are acutely aware; they are long-term planners and they know that we have to do what we can. That point brings me to our two concerns about the Government’s decision to introduce the regulations in this way and at this moment. First, we are concerned by the inclusion of fertilisers without confirmation of the rate. That risks imposing substantial additional costs on a sector that is already under immense cumulative financial pressure. In the context of prolonged conflict in the middle east and the closure of the strait of Hormuz, as well as the climate change pressures that I have mentioned, farmers are facing rising costs, volatile incomes and significant uncertainty.

   Hansard source
9. 12 Oct 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

   The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (Calculation of CBAM Rate and Determination of Carbon Price Relief) Regulations 2026

   That is exactly the point that I am raising, which is about uncertainty. The National Farmers’ Union has estimated exactly that cost, which will ultimately be borne by British farmers. At a time when they face such volatility and uncertainty, we should be strengthening our food security, not undermining it. We would like the Government first to tell farmers what that rate would be.

   Hansard source
10. 12 Oct 2026·Parliament·Pippa Heylings

    The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (Calculation of CBAM Rate and Determination of Carbon Price Relief) Regulations 2026

    I will continue. We would also like the Government, potentially, to introduce a temporary derogation for imported fertilisers. Unlike Conservative colleagues, we have a second concern about the slow progress in linking the UK and EU emissions trading schemes. Without that linkage, the UK CBAM will be more complex, more administratively burdensome and more costly than it needs to be. Businesses trading with our largest trading partner should not be forced to navigate unnecessary layers of bureaucracy because the Government have <span id="8" class="column-number" data-column-number="8"></span>failed to make progress in this area. A linked UK-EU carbon market would make the system simpler, more efficient and more effective, so we call on the Minister to make securing ETS linkage with the European Union an urgent priority at the upcoming UK-EU reset meeting. These are not objections to the principle of the carbon border adjustment mechanism. They are practical questions and improvements that would make the policy fairer for British farmers, less burdensome for British businesses and more effective in achieving its environmental objectives. If the Government want the mechanism to succeed, will they please ensure that it supports our climate ambitions and the long-term competitiveness of British agriculture and industry?

    Hansard source