What happens when the UK’s biggest issues meet environmental targets and commitments head-on? Join the Chair of the House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee, Toby Perkins MP, as he talks to key guests and select committee members about the work underway on committee corridor to investigate some of the UK’s most pressing environmental and social concerns.
This series runs up to summer recess in July 2025. Check back on previous series for episodes on equalities and democracy, human rights, the cost of living crisis and international affairs.
Clean Power by 2030 - that’s the ambition set out by the Prime Minister as one of his five central missions.
The Government says that means a secure and affordable energy supply, the creation of essential new energy industries and the need to limit our contribution to climate change. Chair of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee and host of Committee Corridor, Toby Perkins MP, speaks to three guests who remain to be convinced.
As energy minister, Chris Skidmore signed the UK’s net zero pledge into law in 2019. He later resigned in protest at plans to guarantee annual oil and gas licensing, and now chairs the Climate Action Coalition launched by former US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Initially sceptical about the 2030 deadline for clean power, he’s encouraged by the pace of change and says the UK might even deliver faster. It should prioritise investment in new energy industries while keeping an eye on potential hurdles presented by forthcoming changes to English devolution.
The House of Commons’ Energy Security and Net Zero Committee recently reported on the ‘energy planning chaos’ in a report titled Gridlock or Growth? Committee Member and Liberal Democrat MP, Claire Young, recommends the Government provide much clearer guidance to planners and developers on how strategic plans related to decisions on delivering grid connections.
More diverse energy sources will bring down the UK’s electricity prices will address energy security, she says. “If you compare us to countries like France and Germany, we ‘ve got a less diverse and more volatile collection of energy sources than those countries,” Claire says, pointing to Germany’s combination of hydro, coal and gas, while France uses a high amount of nuclear power. The UK is more reliant on oil and gas, which is more exposed to price spikes.
Harriet Cross is a Conservative MP and member of the Scottish Affairs Committee. She emphasises the importance of ensuring a just transition to a net zero future, an issue the Scottish Affairs Committee is currently exploring in its inquiry into GB Energy. The constituency Harriet represents – Gordon and Buchan in Aberdeenshire – is “the absolute heart” of the oil and gas sector, she says. “Ensuring that the transition is properly just, whatever just means, is absolutely vital.”
Find out more about the committees’ work:
Environmental Audit Committee: Enabling sustainable electrification of the UK economy (https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7680/enabling-sustainable-electrification-of-the-uk-economy/)
ESNZ Committee: Gridlock or growth (https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/664/energy-security-and-net-zero-committee/news/208202/gridlock-or-growth-esnz-committee-sets-out-measures-to-end-energy-planning-chaos-and-unlock-cleaner-cheaper-power-across-the-uk/)?
Scottish Affairs Committee: GB energy and the net zero transition (https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8672/gb-energy-and-the-net-zero-transition/)
2 Jul 2025
The UK's role in protecting ocean life
Host Toby Perkins MP interviews Fiona Thomas, Sarah Champion MP, and Pippa Heylings MP about the UK's role in protecting ocean life, focusing on the High Seas Treaty and the threats facing vulnerable marine habitats.
18 Jun 2025
Why is our water sector broken?
Host Toby Perkins MP interviews environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey, EFRA Committee Chair Alistair Carmichael MP, and Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP about the failures of the water sector and potential solutions.
Who has been a guest on Committee Corridor
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Fiona Thomas
Sarah Champion MP
Pippa Heylings MP
Feargal Sharkey
Alistair Carmichael MP
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