Pippa Heylings MP: speeches

Speeches

• 24 Mar 2026 · Oil and Gas · Hansard source

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  We have been taking out less gas for decades now, and those decisions were taken by successive Governments. We have seen the assessment on the security of gas supply: Norway’s geological situation shows that it has more left, while our basin has less and the supply is dwindling. Expanding North sea drilling is not pragmatic; it is reckless and incompatible with the UK’s climate commitments. There is another path, however. The Liberal Democrats have been clear that we must break our overdependence on fossil fuels and decouple gas and electricity prices so that households benefit from cheap, clean power. The more we expand renewable clean energy through contracts for difference—provision introduced by the Liberal Democrats—the less gas sets the price, so families and businesses could have fixed renewable energy prices. We would go further in taking policy costs off energy bills, so that households feel in their pockets that the wind and the sun are cheaper than gas. We must also make homes cheaper to heat in the winter, and cool in the summer, with a more ambitious warm homes plan and a 10-year emergency home upgrade programme. We should build on the Liberal Democrat success by getting the Government to commit today to putting rooftop solar on all new builds. Rejoining the EU’s internal energy market would reduce wholesale costs, make the trade of energy more efficient, and avoid higher costs. More drilling means more volatility, more insecurity and higher bills. The Liberal Democrats offer a different path: decoupled gas and electricity prices, and the lower bills that families and businesses deserve.

• 11 Mar 2026 · Draft Renewables Obligation (Amendment) Order 2026 · Hansard source

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  The Liberal Democrats have long called on the Government to reform and reconsider the UK’s renewables obligation contracts, which were replaced in 2017 by the contracts for difference scheme set up by the Liberal Democrats when we were in government. We all know that CfDs are a more effective and affordable way to create investment in our net zero economy, which continues to grow, and has to grow for us to be able to decouple the cost of electricity from gas. And it is growing, despite attempts from other parties to talk it down. Adjusting the inflation indexation from RPI to CPI, and therefore reducing the buy-out price for the contracts, will reduce the costs of this outdated scheme. That is always welcome news to households across the UK. However, as the Minister said, there are valid concerns from the renewable energy sector about midway changes to investment plans, particularly if the changes are piecemeal. RenewableUK and others were broadly against the change, and voiced that repeatedly in the Government’s consultation and beyond. The UK’s reputation as a safe and predictable place for investment in vital new renewable energy capacity has been hard won, and must be retained to keep costs as low as possible for bill payers. The way that policy changes matters. Having listened to the sector, the Liberal Democrats believe the Government are miscalculating by not going further to make wholesale changes to the renewables obligation scheme, as we have called for. By drawing out the changes, they are only adding uncertainty for investment, so I call on the Minister to seriously consider our calls to move 85% of renewables obligation contracts on to the CfD scheme, as part of a single, coherent package. That way, renewable energy projects can continue to produce the green energy that the UK desperately needs, while also ensuring that generators can benefit from a new long-term contract that is fair and equitable for generators and consumers alike. In times like this, when we see volatile oil and gas prices soar, consumers need and deserve to feel the benefits of the lower costs of renewable energy, rather than the unintended repercussions of the Government’s multiple fragmented changes.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Cost of Living: Families · Hansard source

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  With tensions in the middle east pushing up global oil and gas prices again, households are understandably worried that yet another international crisis will mean higher energy bills and a higher cost of living at home. In my South Cambridgeshire constituency, like in others we have heard about today, many rural and semi-rural households have to use oil for heating, and they have seen prices double over the past week. I have heard that the Chancellor is considering measures to support them. Will she support the Liberal Democrats’ call to zero rate VAT on heating oil for three months for all those residential homes, and will she consider other measures to protect them from massive spikes in their bills?

• 5 Feb 2026 · National Cancer Plan · Hansard source

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  This weekend, I got the devastating call about my brave and wonderful sister Dawn, loving mother and carer to Ella, who, after a dash to A&E, was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer and given just three to six months to live. What links less survivable cancers is their late diagnosis. Does the Minister agree with my amazing sister Dawn and me that we need to be more proactive about early diagnosis of less survivable cancers, such as through annual screening of those with a family history or high-risk genetic factors, to improve the ability to detect and remove tumours early and improve the five-year survival rates—sadly, hers is not—to over 50%?

• 25 Nov 2025 · Immigration Reforms: Humanitarian Visa Routes · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for that. I want to turn to the punitive regimes that many of my constituents have fled in coming to this country through a fair system, and to speak principally about those constituents who are British nationals from Hong Kong. From 2021, Hongkongers were offered a humanitarian route to indefinite leave to remain in the UK. That reflected the UK’s historical and moral commitment to those people of Hong Kong who chose to retain their strong ties to the UK by taking up BNO status at the point of Hong Kong’s handover to China, following on from their previous British dependent territories citizenship. Rightly, in the wake of China’s national security law in 2020 and the breach of the Sino-British joint declaration, BNO visa holders were promised a clear and safe five-year route to settlement. Even then, that route was more restrictive than for other citizens of former British colonies. On behalf of the many BNO visa holders in South Cambridgeshire, I thank the Government for the important reassurance that they are exempt from the changes to the length of the route for ILR eligibility. The consultation launched by the Government, however, has introduced other areas of concern for those same BNO holders. I would like the Minister to clarify two points, because although the goalposts for length have not been moved, what constitutes a goal has changed. First, when the visa was created in 2021 there was no requirement to meet an earnings threshold. The BNO route is a family-based application and each family faces very different situations and conditions, and there are also different divisions of labour in those families. One constituent wrote to me—we know what it means when they write to us with their own stories and fears of transnational repression—about how her family came to the UK as retirees. Immediately, they faced punitive measures by the Chinese Government, who have made it impossible for them to keep their pension—

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member makes a really important point. Delaying their settled status would leave many of these people unprotected when travelling abroad and raise the stakes in terms of their own and their families’ security. Many families are already financially stretched and, as we have heard, that is often exacerbated by the fact that BNO visa holders are blocked from accessing their pension savings with the mandatory provident fund. With settled status, that would no longer be the case. They have told me that that would be best for everyone because they would then be contributing—they do not want to be a burden on the public purse. We must never forget what is at stake, as my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney) has said. In Hong Kong, nearly 1,000 political prisoners remain behind bars for daring to exercise their democratic right. It is neither safe nor realistic for Hongkongers to return. The petition before us is clear and just. It calls on us to stand by the word we gave and allow those on BNO visas to settle after five years, not 10. I urge the Government and the Minister to provide clarity and reassurance, and to exempt from these reforms all who are already here on BNO visas.

• 10 Jul 2025 · Electricity Market Review · Hansard source

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  I thank the Secretary of State for sharing his statement in advance. He is right: making the UK a clean energy superpower is the smartest and most strategic way to free ourselves from our dependence on expensive, volatile fossil fuels. However, as we have heard, accelerating the transition to renewables alone is not enough. The Government have to ensure that the clean power mission ultimately brings down customers’ bills and creates a fairer system for households and businesses. Energy bills in the UK are among the highest in Europe. Our high costs exacerbate cost of living pressures and increase fuel poverty. They also undermine our international competitiveness for industrial and commercial consumers and risk driving some businesses overseas. The Liberal Democrats have long called for electricity prices to be decoupled from the wholesale price of gas so that families in the UK are not left paying over the odds for clean, British-generated electricity just because of volatile global gas prices. We will be looking closely at the details of the Government’s plan following the review of electricity market arrangements. The Secretary of State outlined his three tests. To ensure that British consumers are not exposed to an unknown level of risk, will he publish his cost-benefit analysis and set out what impact the changes will have on customers’ bills? We will also be looking keenly for the much-needed joined-up approach between planning for renewable energy infrastructure through the strategic spatial energy plan, and the land use framework and local area energy plans, which, worryingly, are a bit out of sync. Renewable energy can be the cheapest, most secure source of power, but for many people, seeing—and feeling it in their pocket—is believing, and under the current system, many are struggling to see it. Alongside the changes announced today, I hope the Secretary of State will consider other Liberal Democrat proposals, just as they did when putting into practice our proposals for rooftop solar on all roofs. We would like to see free insulation and heat pumps for people on low incomes and the introduction of a social tariff for energy to protect the most vulnerable.