Tag Archives: energy efficiency

Mark Valladares

27-28 July 2024 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 28th July 2024 - 10:00 pm
  • Cole-Hamilton writes to minister for third time over neonatal death spike
  • Rennie warns that the Scottish Government’s heat pump installation scheme is hardly helping

Cole-Hamilton writes to minister for third time over neonatal death spike

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today written to the Scottish Government for a third time to call for ministers to answer questions in Parliament over a spike in the neonatal mortality rate – deaths within the first 28 days of life.

His call comes as five Scottish health boards were rated ‘red’ for neonatal mortality rates in the annual UK-wide evaluation known as MBRRACE, including a steep increase in the Grampian region.

Regions are red-flagged if their death rates are more than 5% higher than the UK average for their group. According to reports in The Herald, in 2022, five health boards in Scotland – Grampian, Lothian, Western Isles, Lanarkshire, and Borders – were ‘red’ for neonatal mortality once “congenital abnormalities”, also known as birth defects, were excluded as a cause of death.

This is up from one in both 2020 and 2021, and is the highest at any point since 2017.

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Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Also tagged , and | 6 Comments
Ed Davey

Ed Davey writes… Lower energy bills – with good deal for the fuel poor, green energy and the green deal

By Ed Davey | Mon 2nd December 2013 - 12:44 pm

Energy-bills-006Energy bills are a hot political topic. Since 2005, energy bills have almost doubled at a time when many people’s incomes have barely risen. The cause of these rises has been almost entirely rising wholesale gas prices on international markets. Yet despite that and even though the cost of government policies only represents 9% on the average bill, it is right the Government has closely scrutinised our policy costs, and found a way to reduce them, to deliver an average saving of £50.

The fact we have done so whilst protecting …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 29 Comments
Alisdair Calder McGregor

Opinion: Labour’s energy freeze is terrible economics but excellent politics

By Alisdair Calder McGregor | Wed 25th September 2013 - 10:30 am

Ed Miliband announced in his keynote speech to Labour Party conference that, if elected, he would force energy companies to freeze energy bills for 20 months.

Now obviously, from an economic liberal  perspective, this makes no sense.

Freezing energy costs is precisely the wrong way to go about dealing with the cost of living problem in this country. By freezing income while costs rise in the global upturn & the population expands to require greater supply, Miliband is depriving the energy companies of the capital they need to invest in the expansion of the system.

This will inevitably drive the energy supply industry …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 84 Comments
Fiona Hall MEP

Fiona Hall MEP writes: Behind the scenes – negotiating the EU Energy Efficiency Directive

By Fiona Hall MEP | Wed 29th August 2012 - 11:58 am

While the UK Draft Energy Bill is creating headlines in the UK as it makes its way through Parliament, the EU agreed on what is regarded as the biggest ever piece of legislation in the field of energy efficiency earlier in the summer. The adoption of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) was preceded by a whole year of tough political scrutiny and weeks of negotiations between the European Parliament and Member State ministers in the Council, led by the Danish Presidency. Both Chris Huhne and later Ed Davey were heavily involved in these negotiations for the UK, which was one …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Joel Kenrick

Opinion: We can kick start the economy… and might just save the planet too

By Joel Kenrick | Tue 19th June 2012 - 8:45 am

With all eyes on the elections in Greece and the future of the Eurozone, the Earth Summit in Rio is unlikely to be headline news. But it should be. As Nick Clegg wrote on LDV last week 'sustainability and growth go hand in hand, and it's for us as Liberal Democrats to make that case loud and clear.'

As Liberal Democrats we have been making the case for decades, and over the last two years Liberal Democrat Cabinet Ministers have been forceful advocates around the Cabinet table and around the world. We may know that tackling climate change is essential ...

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 15 Comments
The Voice

Ed Davey unveils £1.3bn green deal

By The Voice | Mon 11th June 2012 - 4:47 pm

PoliticsHome reports:

The Government has published its flagship Green Deal plans, promising to deliver £1.3bn in energy saving measures and support up to 60,000 jobs across the sector.

The deal, which is designed to operate until 2030, allows households and businesses to complete energy efficiency improvements at no upfront cost and then make repayments through a small levy on their energy bill.

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 2 Comments
Andrew George

Andrew George MP writes: Liberal Democrats are champions of green economy

By Andrew George | Thu 12th April 2012 - 12:55 pm

Yesterday Nick Clegg set out the Government’s agenda on energy efficiency and the role of a green economy in delivering growth. Important announcements on energy efficiency, tackling fuel poverty and helping consumers find the best tariffs all caught the media’s attention. But for me the real story is that the Liberal Democrats remain the champions of plans to build a green economy.

Nick was right to attack those who say that there is a zero sum game between economic growth and protecting the environment. As the Liberal Democrats have argued for decades, it isn’t about choosing – the two go …

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg: “Many will save £100 a year thanks to energy deal”

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th April 2012 - 8:46 am

Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has just been on BBC Breakfast talking about the deal that the Government has reached with energy companies which will save many households £100 a year on their bills. Under the plan, consumers would be written to annually and told if a different tariff would save them money.

Nick explained that seven out of ten households were paying too much because they were on the wrong tariff and this idea would save them money. He acknowledged that this alone would not solve all the problems in the energy market but he said …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments
Karen Wilkinson

The stimulus of applying for low-carbon community funding

By Karen Wilkinson | Mon 16th January 2012 - 12:23 pm

Today will see the announcement of the successful applicants to the first round of LEAF funding from the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC). Congratulations to all!

I’m involved in a bid to be submitted on Friday, so I appreciate the work it took to get the bids in on time. We’re undertaking three months’ work in as many weeks, I’m told.

LEAF is the “Local Energy Assessment Fund” – a.k.a. loose change DECC found in its trousers pockets before the year-end wash. It was announced in December with two bid rounds. It’s £10 million for …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
The Voice

Chris Huhne announces ‘The Green Deal: Putting our ideas into practice’

By The Voice | Fri 5th November 2010 - 7:35 pm

Chris Huhne, Lib Dem secretary of state for energy and climate change, earlier this week emailed party members with the following message, illustrating how the party is putting green policies at the heart of the Coaltion:

Today I am announcing details of the Green Deal, a new and radical way of making energy efficiency improvements available to all, whether people own or rent their properties. Through the Green Deal everyone will have a chance to save energy, cut their bills and tackle climate change, just as we promised in our manifesto.

Initially, over the next two years, we will almost double

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Alex Foster

Campaigning in the snow

By Alex Foster | Fri 8th January 2010 - 4:34 pm

It’s snowing. It’s cold. Much of Britain is housebound.

Here are some top tips to keep your constituency campaigning in the snow.

  1. Telephone canvass!
  2. Get your photos for next year’s Christmas card now!
  3. Use time trapped indoors to review your plans.  Have you ordered your ink, sourced your suppliers and got a name next to every action point?
  4. How’s that to-do list looking?
  5. Are you practicing Inbox Zero?  What better time to start!
  6. How snowy are your neighbours’ roofs?  If some houses in your street / ward / constituency have the snow and ice melting faster than others, then it’s a clear indication they don’t

…

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Posted in Online politics | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
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