Results 1-20 of 25 for climate change speaker:Matthew Taylor

Written Answers — Energy and Climate Change: Warm Front Scheme: Cornwall (15 Jun 2009)

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many pensioners resident in Cornwall have (a) been eligible for and (b) received a grant from the Warm Front scheme in each year since it was launched.

[Mrs. Joan Humble in the Chair] — Water Strategy (18 Mar 2008)

Matthew Taylor: ...is a decisive moment. I want to address two core issues. One is fairer ways of dividing the costs, and the other is better ways of dealing with the costs—particularly diffuse pollution and climate change—in the first place so that we can bring down water bills in the long run, rather than simply redividing them. In that sense, I want to talk about solutions, not the history of...

[Mrs. Joan Humble in the Chair] — Water Strategy (18 Mar 2008)

Matthew Taylor: ..., we had a much more flexible approach to the installation of meters in our part of the world than in other places, where people faced high charges if they got it wrong and had no opportunity to change. That opportunity now exists. The remaining number consists in part of those who cannot fit water meters—there are quite big issues of practicality in some mansion blocks and so on...

China Clay Industry (11 Jul 2006)

Matthew Taylor: ...the main paper markets and Brazil is a long way away. I shall return to that issue. I thank the Minister's colleagues at the Treasury, with whom I worked for some years to find a solution to the climate change levy, which has impacted on the clay industry. When I first raised that matter with Ministers in 2003, the levy had already taken £4 million out of the industry and raised...

Civil Nuclear Power (17 Jan 2006)

Matthew Taylor: .... Does my hon. Friend accept that there is now an equally fundamental argument? Government Members try to make the case for nuclear power by saying that it is a way of tackling the energy and climate change problems that we face. What message is being sent to developing countries, some of which are unstable—including Iran—when we argue against them developing nuclear power...

Estimates Day — [2nd Allotted Day] — Supplementary Estimates, 2001-02 — Environmental Audit (7 Mar 2002)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...tax is that too often they have grabbed the green mantle in a way that simply hides the fact that the Treasury takes decisions that largely suit it. For example, the decision to opt for the climate change levy rather than a carbon tax was politically driven; it had nothing to do with best environmental practice. As a result, not only did that decision put huge administrative burdens on...

Estimates Day — [2nd Allotted Day] — Supplementary Estimates, 2001-02 — Environmental Audit (7 Mar 2002)

Mr Matthew Taylor: One great problem with the climate change levy is that it is not terribly effective in changing the way in which businesses operate. The whole point of adopting a carbon tax would be to tackle carbon use, which the levy fails to do. Although various efforts have been made to get round that problem, the situation is still far from ideal. In addition, the levy was introduced in one big block. A...

Estimates Day — [2nd Allotted Day] — Supplementary Estimates, 2001-02 — Environmental Audit (7 Mar 2002)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...should feel—I hope—that I do not believe that environmental taxes could play a crucial part in how we address the environmental issues that we face. The biggest of those is catastrophic climate change, although we also see the destruction of our countryside. I shall give one other example of importance—the aggregates tax. I have always believed that the aggregates tax...

Climate Change (27 Oct 1999)

Mr Matthew Taylor: I echo the closing comments of the hon. Member for Bury, North (Mr. Chaytor) and appeal to the Government to stick to their 20 per cent. target. I shall not rehearse the arguments for tackling climate change or the evidence for the process of catastrophic climate change that we face. Time is short, so I shall concentrate on practicalities, not least for the reason mentioned by the hon....

Climate Change (27 Oct 1999)

Mr Matthew Taylor: That will certainly come up in the Budget should such a move be made. It could be one use for the election war chest, but I would rather see investment in education and health. The climate change levy succeeds in one key area in which the other two measures did not: there is an explicit link to a tax cut—national insurance. We will reduce taxes on a good—jobs—and instead...

Road Traffic Reduction (United Kingdom Targets) Bill (30 Jan 1998)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...be negotiated. I hope that the Government will produce targets soon. I understand that that is likely in the White Paper, although nothing is finalised. We will certainly hold them to that. In the climate of tough decisions on lone parents or disability benefits, there are no excuses for not being brave enough to produce policies and targets to curb traffic and improve public transport....

Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency (14 Jan 1998)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...odd, bureaucratic word: it really describes unnecessary winter deaths. Such a phenomenon is not experienced, certainly not on the same scale, in other countries that have similar or even colder climates. In Britain, for every 1 deg Centigrade drop in temperature, an extra 8,000 deaths occur. In countries such as Sweden and Norway, which can have terrible winters, no extra deaths occur....

Cycling (10 Dec 1997)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...been a debate specifically about cycling in this place before. Cycling is vital to the creation of an integrated transport strategy. We expect to hear news today from Kyoto about the outcome of the climate change conference. Sadly, it is likely that any proposals will be inadequate. Nevertheless, changing our transport system and encouraging people to use non-polluting forms of transport...

Prayers: Earth Summit 2 (11 Jun 1997)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...that the United Kingdom has a leading role in those negotiations. The most pressing environmental challenge that we all face has already been taken up in the debate. The framework convention on climate change looks set to agree binding greenhouse gas emission targets at the Kyoto meeting on climate change in December. I have no doubt that that should be seen as a concrete achievement in...

Prayers: Earth Summit 2 (11 Jun 1997)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...be urged to ratify the convention on biological diversity and should work to produce national and international strategies to conserve biodiversity. Crucially, neither the framework convention on climate change nor the convention on biological diversity has agreed a programme of action or mobilised sufficient financial resources to implement their aims in developing countries. As a...

Prayers: Earth Summit II (19 Mar 1997)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...stands at only 0.28 per cent. of GNP, which has fallen from the 1980–84 average of 0.37 per cent. The cuts must be reversed, or we will share the vastly larger costs of environmental destruction and climate change. The cuts are a practical obstacle to solving the developing world's environmental problems, but, even more important, they are a major psychological block to winning...

New clause 13: Relief from Income Tax on Expenditure on Energy Saving Materials (11 Mar 1997)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...in any other part of western Europe. For many years, other western European countries have built homes to standards of insulation that are way beyond our own. In many instances, they have colder climates. The people of those countries have no difficulty in affording to heat their homes, because costs are very low. In that context, it is bizarre that the House should have created a...

World Trade and the Environment (11 Dec 1996)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...action is preferable to unilateral action, not least because it is more effective. The issue becomes still more important in the context of the current negotiations on the framework convention on climate change, which are supposed to agree a control protocol by the end of next year. It is highly likely that such a protocol will contain trade measures, as they worked so well in the case of...

Opposition Day: Energy Policy (16 Jul 1996)

Mr Matthew Taylor: .... The recent news that, just before its flotation, British Energy shut down Hunterston B and Hinkley Point B but did not release that information until after the flotation, has sparked a stock exchange inquiry. We have always said—I have spelt out our position in detail in two debates, and do not plan to do so again now—that the sell-off was bad for the taxpayer. It now...

Opposition Day: Energy Policy (16 Jul 1996)

Mr Matthew Taylor: ...that they should be. I am about to finish my speech, so I do not want to follow up the hon. Gentleman's intervention too far, but I must tell him that, although I have never put any figure on the changeover, I have said that the changes would be phased in gradually, that we would help people on low incomes to cut their bills through energy conservation, and that the money would be used to...