Alan Whitehead

Labour Party | Southampton Test

WHITEHEAD HAILS CLIMATE CHANGE BILL AS ‘VISIONARY’

Dr Alan Whitehead, Member of Parliament for Southampton Test has hailed the Climate Change Bill, announced in this week’s Queen’s Speech as ‘visionary’. He stated that it will provide the architecture to help us move from ‘a profligate carbon-energy economy to a low energy and low carbon economy’.

Dr Whitehead was speaking yesterday in a House of Commons debate on the Queen’s Speech, in which he covered a broad range of environmental subjects. The Climate Change Bill was published in draft in March this year, and was then submitted for scrutiny by a specially created Joint Committee on the Draft Climate Change Bill, of which Dr Whitehead was a leading member, which called on the government to listen to their recommendations to make the Bill stronger and more effective in the fight against climate change.

The Climate Change Bill’s arrangements on carbon trading in Europe, which will establish a value and price of carbon and looked forward to a worldwide carbon market were welcomed by Dr Whitehead, who argued that this will help begin to ensure that decisions on different forms of energy use, and different forms of housing and land use, can be based on how carbon is running through the economy rather than just on bottom-line financial arrangements.

On the issues of nuclear power and renewable energy Dr Whitehead took the opportunity to explode many of the myths regarding a future energy gap, stating:

“The context in which the energy Bill is set is that in the next 15 years or so—roughly the period of the first three carbon budgets in the Climate Change Bill—we will need to renew some 40 per cent. of our power stations. All except one of the existing nuclear power stations will be decommissioned, as will a number of gas and coal-fired power stations. One thing that we do know is that we cannot replace those power stations with a gas power station economy, because we would simply burst open the carbon targets set in the Climate Change Bill. We also know that, whatever we think about nuclear power, when we have to replace that substantial part of our energy generating supply in that approximately 15-year period, it simply will not ride to the rescue. It will not be generating any power—certainly not by 2020, and probably not even by 2025—unless very different proposals from the current ones on commissioning, planning, justification and so on are introduced, even allowing for the context of the planning Bill, which is also in the Queen’s Speech. In renewing our power supply, the emphasis over the next 15 to 18 years will therefore have to be on renewables or near renewables.”

The issue of charging for waste was also addressed by Dr Whitehead who stated:

“I trust that the Climate Change Bill will contain this policy of ensuring that residents who act positively on recycling get rebates from their local authorities, that local authorities have the power to do that and, possibly, that people who take no action on recycling or on ensuring that their waste is managed in a reasonable way face some form of consequence.”

He added:

“Simply to characterise such a policy as a spy in the bin, a chip in every waste bin and a stealth tax is disgraceful in terms of climate change commitments.”

Speaking after the debate, Dr Whitehead said:

“There is a great deal of substance in the Queen’s Speech, with vision and far-reaching policies proposed. I welcome particularly the Climate Change Bill, Energy Bill, Planning Reform Bill and Local Transport Bill, will help us to lead the world in fighting climate change and developing a sustainable low-carbon economy. I look forward to the progress of these Bills through parliament.”

Dr Whitehead has been campaigning for action on Climate Change for 20 years. Firstly, as a Southampton Councillor, Dr Whitehead introduced and obtained funding for Southampton’s geothermal power plant after the government of the day had pulled the plug on funding for the project, which now provides clean, cheap energy and heating to much of Southampton. More recently, the key amendments of his Private Members Bill were incorporated into the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill and received Royal Assent last July. Dr Whitehead is also Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group, and Chair of All-Party Sustainable Resources Group. Dr Whitehead also took up the 25/5 challenge to cut his carbon emissions by 25% over 5 years, and through installing cavity wall insulation,  recycling or reusing, and energy saving light bulbs he reduced his carbon footprint by 8.2% in 2005-6.