It's a two horse race and we are so close to beating Labour. Every vote counts!
Put People & Preston first
It's a two horse race and we are so close to beating Labour. Every vote counts!
Michael Lavalette
“There's always money for war and military intervention, but never money for decent health, education and social services. I want to stand up for welfare, not warfare.
It’s time for a change. Time for an MP who is independent of the three main parties and who is not afraid to speak out on the issues that affect us all."
Climate Change, Fuel Poverty & Green Employment Statement
Michael is fully committed to halting the global and existential crisis of climate change.
The impacts of climate change are vast and far reaching, from extreme weather conditions like drought, hurricanes, and winters without freezing, to the subsequent human consequences of water shortages, famine, war, and mass migration; not to mention the ecological impacts which are difficult to quantify let alone imagine.
It is for these reasons that the UK, in partnership with governments and people around the world, must take immediate and impactful action.
However, this must be done in a manner which does not affect those already impoverished. In Germany, subsidies allowed those with healthy incomes to install solar PV on their roofs, yet the less well-off paid subsidies to the more affluent to install them, as an increase in non-commodity costs on their energy bills. So, whilst Michael is very keen to tackle the most serious threat to life on earth, it must be done carefully with measures in place that do not detrimentally affect those already struggling.
Lancashire County Council has huge pension funds. These pension funds could be used as seed investment for renewable power construction, with small publicly/community owned suppliers, sleeving this energy into their portfolio via Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) at returns which secure the pension funds with long term stable returns, but also provides cheaper electricity to end users. Advances in software can now provide tariffs by postcode, allowing for cheaper tariffs to areas of high poverty. Standard tariffs would be cheaper than current commercially available ones, as the energy would stay within the local distribution network, avoiding transmission industry costs and commodity price fixed through the PPA. This would also protect people and businesses from spikes in the wholesale market price, as we saw in 2022 with the invasion of Ukraine and the astronomical returns the producers of energy gorged upon, whilst consumers and businesses struggled.
Profit from these local initiatives would not go to shareholders, but back into more renewable technology investment alongside improving the insulation and efficiency of homes.
Renewable Electricity would have to be oversized and then investment in Hydrogen Electrolysers would begin, with surplus renewable electricity creating and storing hydrogen. We need baseload energy for when the sun isn’t shining, and the wind isn’t blowing. Hydrogen would deliver this baseload energy and could also provide the heating requirements for both domestic and industry consumers.
And the result of all this, high skilled, high paid jobs, growth, increased productivity coupled with sustainable, cheap energy which helps us to reduce emissions and hopefully avoid the worst effects of climate change.
Much of this can be done within the area of Lancashire. However, we also need a long-term energy strategy that investors can rely on. For far too long, industry and government change plans, regulations and costs every few years, making investment risky. This is unsustainable.
The technology is there, the models are proved, this business case is solid, yet the political will is lacking with the energy giants being some of the most powerful lobbyists in the UK. Michael wants to change this dynamic, putting what is best for people and the planet first.
It was with dismay that we saw Labour roll back on its Green Prosperity Plan. This was the singular positive we saw within their plans, and they have rolled it back from £28 Billion a year investment, to the gimmick that is Great British Energy. Their pledge of £8 Billion over the next term is less than existing suppliers will be spending in the same period, yet existing suppliers already own huge assets. It will not make a dent in the energy price nor the required reduction in greenhouse emissions.
However, we in Preston and Lancashire can do it for ourselves, becoming a model for the rest of the country. We just need the political will to drive this forward, and that is why we are asking you to vote for Michael Lavalette on the 4th of July and deliver the change that is so desperately needed.