RHI: Government pulls vote after Lord Empey makes last-ditch bid to delay huge subsidy cuts

The government has tonight pulled a debate on RHI changes after an amendment from a former Ulster Unionist leader attempted to delay the subsidy cuts until there had been proper scrutiny of the proposal.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Mar 2019, 18:46 BST
Updated 11th Mar 2019, 20:10 BST
Lord Empey is hoping to buy time for the RHI legislation to be examined by an MPs' committeeLord Empey is hoping to buy time for the RHI legislation to be examined by an MPs' committee
Lord Empey is hoping to buy time for the RHI legislation to be examined by an MPs' committee

Lord Empey told the News Letter that his amendment would “buy time” for the legislation to be examined and prevent a repeat of past disastrous mistakes with RHI legislation.

The government had proposed to bring the bill to the Lords tomorrow night.

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However, hours after the amendment was tabled this afternoon, the government delayed by a week the passage of the legislation through the Lords.

The peer said that his amendment would continue the existing tariffs – which have already been massively cut from the original ‘burn to earn’ rates – until the Commons’ NI Affairs Committee scrutinises the proposal.

He said that his proposal was about “effectively providing time for some scrutiny because there has been no scrutiny”. Lord Empey said it was “just ridiculous” for the government to attempt to ram the legislation through the Lords in a single night.

The former energy minister said that “innocent and genuine applicants have now found themselves living a financial nightmare”, with the proposal “a step too far”, especially because it involved “civil servants unilaterally proposing such stringent reductions”.