An MP has hit back at a Government minister for being “unnecessarily aggressive” after he suggested she should stop talking.
Richmond Park MP Sarah Olney asked housing minister Christopher Pincher why the Government was not setting a target of net-zero carbon for new builds.
Mr Pincher told the Commons: “We will certainly be ambitious, we will continue to work hard to build green homes for our country and I’m sure when it comes to it and the lady stops talking, she’ll start to walk with us.”
The comment provoked a reaction in the house, with some MPs heard saying “whoa!”
Responding to his comments, Lib Dem Ms Olney told the Standard she believed Mr Pincher had been "unnecessarily aggressive".
She said: “He gave an - unnecessarily aggressive in my opinion - answer about the government’s plans for net zero.
“I challenged him on the fact that he’d literally just said reduce by 75 per cent, but not noisily or rudely.
“It’s part of a strategy from the Government I think that accuses the opposition of not being supportive rather than accept our right to challenge them.”
During the exchange, Mr Pincher said the Government’s future homes standard reforms proposed an “ambitious uplift” in the energy efficiency of new homes.
He also said new homes will have at least 75 per cent lower emissions than current standards.
He added: “She seems to have forgotten the ambition of this Government as already stated. We were the first Government in the world to legislate for net-zero.”
The Standard has contacted Mr Pincher’s office for comment.
