A Hampshire MP demanded to know if the government's renewable energy goals could be achieved without the use of forced labour in China.

Speaking in the Commons, Sir Desmond Swayne, Conservative MP for New Forest, sought an assurance that ministerial ambitions for renewable energy can be achieved without "Chinese slave labour".

Energy minister Sarah Jones replied: “We ensure the highest standards are kept in all of these things.

"He may be referring to solar, which is a particular issue that people have raised. We have a solar taskforce that has been set up to look exactly at these points."

SNP MP Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) urged the government to apologise for "writing cheques her party cannot cash".

He added: “What would help billpayers is a £300 cut to energy bills, which that party opposite promised in their manifesto, but instead they’ve gone up £149 in October, they’ve gone up £21 in January and they’re going up £99 again in April."