Louie French MP: speeches

Speeches

• 7 Sept 2026 · Draft Digital Government (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2026 · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship again, Sir Desmond. This statutory instrument extends an existing power in the Digital Economy Act 2017 that enables data sharing between public authorities and energy suppliers. The changes will enable the reduction or cancellation of customers’ debt to their energy supplier in certain circumstances. The regulations will specifically permit the sharing of information to support the delivery of a debt relief scheme, amend the list of fuel poverty measures to enable specified persons to disclose information to energy suppliers for the reduction or cancellation of customers’ debt, and amend the 2018 regulations to add the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology—that last one might need updating—to the list of specified persons that may share information. I hope that Ministers will make sure that this Committee is not a waste of time, and that we will not find ourselves here again soon, making another regulation to add other Departments to that list. Members will know that His Majesty’s most loyal Opposition have long criticised the Government’s broader energy policy. We are clear that consumer debt is rising because impossible net zero targets, such as achieving full clean power by 2030, have driven up energy bills across the country. We reiterate our calls for the Government to take a serious approach that tackles the root cause of high energy prices, rather than raising taxes to pay for temporary solutions. The Government should therefore adopt our cheap power plan to scrap the carbon tax on electricity generation from gas, as well as removing VAT on domestic energy bills, maximising extraction of our oil and gas resources in the North sea, and committing to reliable, secure power generation from gas and nuclear. Although the regulations have noble intentions, they do nothing to address the underlying problems and costs for consumers. They simply paper over the cracks of a Labour Government already failing to deliver on the promises they made to the public.