I was disappointed today that Wokingham Borough Council cancelled their meeting with me scheduled for this afternoon. Today was the first date they could give me over a seven week period when I had considerable flexibility over dates and times, and it has been reserved in my diary all that time. I am available to meet with them when I do not have to be in Parliament. Parliament was in recess throughout August and is in recess again today. I  represent them to government over a range of matters from planning to budgets and find it easier to do so when I know their case. I can also meet with them on line from Parliament for anything urgent when Parliament is meeting.

Treasury has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (198583):

Question:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to introduce new taxes on the (a) purchase and (b) running costs of electric vehicles. (198583)

Tabled on: 11 September 2023

Answer:
Gareth Davies:

In his 2022 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that from April 2025 electric cars, vans and motorcycles will begin to pay Vehicle Excise Duty in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles. Electric cars with a list price of £40,000 or more will also be liable to pay the Expensive Car Supplement.

As with all taxes, VED is kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.

The answer was submitted on 19 Sep 2023 at 13:42.

Comment The answer fails to address lost petrol and diesel duty which some say will mean some tax per mile on EVs or a tax on electricity through rechargers.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (198578):

Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has an estimate of how much CO2 was produced in the (a) manufacture and (b) installation of one gigawatt of offshore wind power within the UK in the last 12 months. (198578)

Tabled on: 11 September 2023

Answer:
Graham Stuart:

The Department does not publish information related to this request directly, however, the IPCC and UNECE have published estimates related to this request here:

https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_annex-iii.pdf#page=7

https://unece.org/sed/documents/2021/10/reports/life-cycle-assessment-electricity-generation-options

Both estimates demonstrate that the lifecycle CO2 impact of generating electricity from offshore wind is significantly lower than fossil fuels.

The answer was submitted on 19 Sep 2023 at 11:30.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (198584):

Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made an estimate of the government’s budget for carbon capture and storage expenditure over the next five years. (198584)

Tabled on: 11 September 2023

Answer:
Graham Stuart:

In the 2023 Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced an unprecedented £20 billion investment in the early development of carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS). The quantum of spend within a given period will depend on the outcome of commercial negotiations and will be subject to confirmation at the next and subsequent spending reviews.

The answer was submitted on 19 Sep 2023 at 11:40.

Comment.  It is most important that this spending is reviewed and properly controlled. The UK needs to keep in line with major industrial nations like China and Germany, as CCUS is all additional cost. If we burden ourselves and competitors do not we will simply lose more industry and swell the bill for subsidies to try to offset the damage.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (198579):

Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made a comparative assessment of UK electricity prices compared to those charged in the United States. (198579)

Tabled on: 11 September 2023

Answer:
Graham Stuart:

Domestic and industrial electricity prices for countries that are members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) are published in Quarterly Energy Prices tables 5.5.1 and 5.3.1 respectively.

Table 5.5.1: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/international-domestic-energy-prices and Table 5.3.1: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/international-industrial-energy-prices

Average electricity prices in the United States are among the lowest in the IEA, below those in the UK, and they have been one of the 5 countries with the lowest prices across the IEA since the mid-2000s. Electricity prices vary by locality in the United States based on the availability of power plants and fuels, local fuel costs, and pricing regulations.

JR Comment

This reveals that UK suffers a major competitive disadvantage by going for expensive electricity, along with high energy and carbon taxes. To have a stronger industrial base we need cheaper energy.