Michael Shanks MP: speeches

Speeches

• 30 Jun 2025 · Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his question. First, he is right to restate what I said in the statement—when I brought in the refinery industry for a roundtable, it was frankly extraordinary to be told that it was the first time in 13 years that that had happened. That is an extraordinary state of affairs. I am glad that we have now held that roundtable, but what it has highlighted is just how much engagement with the sector is now necessary. I am determined to drive that engagement forward. My hon. Friend is also right about the nature of the transition. Refineries will be important at all stages of the transition. Clearly, they are critical to delivering our fuel security today, and they will play a really important role in that area in the future—in sustainable aviation fuel, biofuels, and the wider work we need that sector to do. We will support refineries to transition into some of those future technologies. The bottom line in this case is that we seem to have had a business that was far from doing that—it was not driving forward the investment that was necessary. We will now, at pace, try to get to the bottom of what the directors were doing with this company. It is a shocking state of affairs and a sad day for the workers, but I genuinely believe that there will be a strong refining sector in the future.

• 24 Jun 2025 · Draft Nuclear Installations (Compensation for Nuclear Damage) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Nuclear Installations (Compensation for Nuclear Damage) (Amendment) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. The draft regulations, which were laid before the House on 19 May, make technical changes to the way in which the convention on supplementary compensation for nuclear damage, known as the CSC, will operate in the UK on accession to the treaty. The changes streamline the operation of the different conventions, as well as the domestic implementing legislation. Nuclear power is central to the Government’s mission to become a clean energy superpower, and a key part of our industrial strategy to revive Britain’s industrial heartlands. It provides clean, home-grown energy, creates thousands of well-paid, skilled jobs, and complements other technologies by providing stable and reliable electricity to the grid. To drive forward new nuclear and deliver on our mission, the Government made a series of bold commitments in the recent spending review. A £14.2 billion investment was announced to build Sizewell C, ending years of delay and uncertainty and creating 10,000 jobs, and we pledged £2.5 billion for small modular reactors, or SMRs, over the spending review period. Rolls-Royce SMR has been selected as the preferred bidder to partner with Great British Energy—Nuclear to develop the reactors. Together with Hinkley Point C, those announcements represent the biggest nuclear roll-out for a generation, delivering more nuclear to the grid than in the past 50 years. Participation in nuclear third-party liability—or NTPL—treaties are important for supporting nuclear development, while also safeguarding the interests of potential victims in the highly unlikely event of a nuclear incident. NTPL treaties ensure that: minimum levels of compensation are available to victims of a nuclear incident; claims are channelled exclusively to the operator of a nuclear installation; and claims are channelled to the jurisdiction in which the nuclear incident occurred. The UK is party to the Paris convention on third-party liability in the field of nuclear energy and to the Brussels convention supplementary to the Paris convention on third-party liability in the field of nuclear energy, known as the Brussels supplementary convention. They are implemented domestically in the Nuclear Installations Act 1965. The Paris convention sets a minimum operator liability amount of €700 million, with an additional €500 million of compensation available above that to compensate victims in a Brussels supplementary convention country. Finally, there is a shared international fund of €300 million made up of contributions from Brussels convention members, again used to compensate damage in Brussels states. To remove some potential barriers for investors and the nuclear supply chain, and to support exports, we are now pursuing accession to another treaty, the convention on supplementary compensation for nuclear damage. The CSC is another international nuclear third-party liability treaty, under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The UK is the first Paris convention member to seek to accede to the CSC. Accession to the CSC will expand the number of countries that the UK has NTPL treaty relations with by 11. The expansion will remove some potential barriers to inward investment, and support UK exports in the future. Accession will enhance the UK’s attractiveness as a destination for nuclear investment and support the successful delivery of future projects. That is because the mutual respect of the principles of NTPL treaties will apply to more countries. In the highly unlikely event of a nuclear incident, accession to the CSC will also increase the amount of compensation available for potential victims. The CSC establishes a shared international fund made up from contributions of the contracting parties to compensate victims of a nuclear incident. A country’s contributions are calculated based on installed nuclear capacity and UN contribution rates, expressed in special drawing rights. At present, with the UK as a member, the shared international fund would be approximately £120 million, with the UK’s contribution set at £7 million. To date, there have been no calls on this fund. As the first Paris convention country to seek accession to the CSC, there is no established path for countries seeking participation in both conventions, and the UK is therefore a pioneer in this respect. To enable CSC accession, provisions were included in the Energy Act 2023 to amend the Nuclear Installations Act 1965, which provides for the UK’s participation in various NTPL regimes. Our initial approach had been to reflect the minimum national compensation amount required for claims at 300 million special drawing rights, equivalent to €370 million, by setting this as the liability limit for operators. This was to come out of operators’ existing financial security provision. This instrument makes a technical change to the way the CSC will operate in the UK upon accession to the treaty. The technical amendment will align the compensation available under the CSC with that of the Paris convention, which is to say it creates a single first tier of compensation available under both conventions with a limit of €700 million. This remains within the existing financial security provided by operators, meaning no increase in the liability burden for operators. For sites with lower liability levels, namely low-level and intermediate sites, their financial security requirements will also remain unchanged. This approach will simplify the operation of the different conventions and the classification of claims in domestic legislation. It will benefit the administration of funds by ensuring that the CSC shared international fund comes into operation only once operator financial security limits under the Paris convention are exhausted. It will continue to ensure the additional funds available under the Brussels supplementary convention and the CSC go only to those entitled to make a claim under these conventions. In conclusion, the instrument makes a technical change to the way the CSC will operate in the UK. We continue to work towards CSC accession, which will support the delivery of new nuclear projects and exports while continuing to safeguard the interests of victims in the highly unlikely event of a nuclear incident. The Government have been clear on our support for nuclear, and these measures contribute to creating the best possible investment climate. I commend the regulations to the Committee.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Future of the Gas Grid · Hansard source

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  I will look over here, Ms McDonagh. Our North sea gas supply and our gas storage infrastructure mean that we can deliver heat and power across the country whenever it is needed. The fact that we so often do not discuss the resilience of the system underlines how resilient it is and how well it does its work. Even during exceptionally difficult moments, such as the “beast from the east” in 2018 or after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the gas system continued to meet the needs of millions of consumers. It safely and reliably provides the energy we need. As our largest primary fuel, representing more than a third of the UK’s energy consumption, natural gas is central to meeting our electricity demands, but it is also crucial that we look towards the future. The gas network itself—the system of underground pipes that transport gas the length and breadth of the country and meet the demands of millions of consumers daily—is critically important. Looking to the future, the natural gas system is a key enabler of our net zero transition. It will allow us to phase out coal and reduce emissions faster than any other major economy. As the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire pointed out—I have the figure in miles and she had it in kilometres; that is the difference between Labour and the Liberal Democrats—there are 175,000 miles of pipework in the network associated with various infrastructure. It is an extraordinary thing, and we must remember the absolute scale of it. I pay tribute to the workers up and down the network who keep it going every single day, in really difficult circumstances at times. Some 26,000 workers are employed in the gas system, which demonstrates the size and scale of the industry. However, it is important that we are not trapped in nostalgia about the system and that we have a clear-headed view of its future. The role of gas needs to change and has already begun to do so, so it is important that we set out how to get the change right. The Government are clear that making Britain a clean energy superpower is one of our defining missions, and that means that gas will play a smaller and smaller role in our electricity generation. That is the right thing to do. In a broader sense, net zero also requires a wide-ranging transformation of the rest of the economy. The transformation will mean a sea change in how infrastructure, industry, business and our homes work. The power sector, domestic buildings and transportation will all have to undergo significant change, and that will require not one solution but many things. Part of the solution is the warm homes plan, which is about transforming our homes by making them cleaner and cheaper to run. We are also helping to unlock the potential of electric vehicle infrastructure right across the country. New clean heating solutions mean that fewer homes will rely on gas boilers. Our transition presents an incredible opportunity to build on the skills of the existing gas workforce as we build what comes next. That will lead to thousands of new jobs and training opportunities across the country. As we decarbonise industry, we will also see a growing role for carbon capture and low-carbon gases such as hydrogen and biomethane, which will help ensure that we meet our objective of net zero, while still providing secure, reliable and affordable energy. One of my hon. Friends asked about the green gas support scheme. I can confirm that it will close for new applications in 2028, but we are looking at the responses to a call for evidence on its future. It is clear that the gas network will continue to play a critical role in meeting our energy needs out to 2050 and beyond. Even when we achieve our clean power mission, as we will, gas will play an important strategic back-up role, so it will still be important to maintain that system. The Government are clear that gas use will decline overall, and that how we use gas in our system will change. We therefore have to think critically about this nationally important asset. We must repurpose it and make sure that we do not take any options off the table. We will set out our views on the future of the gas system in much more detail very soon. We have to acknowledge the challenges, as this will not be straightforward. Ensuring that we remain energy independent and that the gas network continues to operate as needed during the transition means that we will have to make some difficult choices, and maintaining investor confidence is absolutely key. We must maintain the current system and drive in the investment that we need for the future. We have been working with Ofgem on its RIIO-3 plans for the price control period from 2026 to 2031, to make sure that investment in industry is fair and affordable. We also recognise that, as the demand for gas declines due to homes and industry increasingly relying on electricity, there will need to be an orderly transition across our energy network. We will continue to work with Ofgem on that. A number of contributions focused on what the future of the gas network will look like. Given the country’s huge technological expertise and investment, to have such a secure and reliable network, we need to think about how we protect it while considering the different demands that will be placed on it in future—we are looking at all possible options in this space. We are aware of the need for clarity on the future of the gas grid and how these repurposing options fit within that, and we will say more on that in due course. I will turn to two specific things that have been mentioned today. First, the potential of hydrogen is clearly quite significant both for heating and industrial demand. We are doing a serious amount of work and taking further evidence on how we repurpose our gas networks to enable that. Several Members, including my friend, the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon)—he is ever present in this Chamber—spoke about working together across the UK on solutions. I will resist being drawn into constitutional arguments, although it is difficult to resist that temptation. The hon. Gentleman made an important point about working together on skills and jobs. Indeed, perfectly timed for his contribution, I am meeting Minister Archibald from the Northern Ireland Executive later today to talk about many of these issues and our co-operation with Northern Ireland. On the question of blending, a mix of natural gas and hydrogen could be used in gas networks to decarbonise our gas use. The Government are actively looking at the question of blending and considering the appropriate decision points. My hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes)—I think he said his constituency is the King’s Cross of the hydrogen world, which is an interesting analogy—asked about consultation on hydrogen blending. I can say that we will soon be publishing a consultation on transmission blending. On the core network, we agree that many benefits can be achieved from the hydrogen economy, but there are areas on which we require further evidence, as we really want to get this right. We are moving as quickly as possible, but we will need more evidence in some areas. The Government want to provide strategic clarity on decarbonising home heating to best support our mission. To support that, we are assessing all the latest evidence, and we will consult later this year on the role of hydrogen in home heating. We also plan to bring forward a clear plan for industrial decarbonisation and a renewed industrial decarbonisation strategy, which will set out the strategic direction for our approach with industry. The Government are enabling the development of the carbon capture, usage and storage sector to create jobs, reduce emissions and put the UK at the forefront of global CCUS. The Government are working on developing the strategic direction of CO 2 transport networks. At the spending review, the Government announced that they will be providing development funding to advance the delivery of Viking and Acorn, with a final investment decision taken later in this Parliament. I am grateful for the typically thoughtful contribution of the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan), who I have met a number of times, and we have had fruitful conversations. I was pleased to visit his constituency a few months ago, when I went to St Fergus, one of our most important gas terminals, and I welcome his comments on the Acorn project. We see it as a crucial project, and the funding we committed to it in the spending review will help drive it forward. It represents our commitment after years of dither and delay from the previous Government. We think there is a role for biomethane in decarbonising all end users in the gas grid. It is already being used in the gas network, and we expect it to play a role in reaching our net zero target. It can be used flexibly, and that flexibility is valuable as it enables us to adapt to the hard-to-predict cost curves and deployment trajectories of existing technologies. Our biomass strategy sets out our ambition through to 2050. With all repurposing and future use options, we need to determine the extent to which they are feasible, considering a range of factors. They must also be investable, to ensure that the gas industry can attract the necessary investment needed to build sustainable, viable networks. Crucial to that is that they have to provide value for money, providing affordable solutions for consumers who might use them. To return to the point I started with, we need to be pragmatic on all this. Where repurposing is not viable, long-term consideration will be needed on whether we should decommission unused parts of the gas network and on the appropriate timeline for that. I want to be clear that none of this is straightforward. After successive Governments have not looked at this in the round, we are now grappling with how to deliver a future gas network that takes all the options into account and does not decommission things that we may wish we still had in the future. There are lots of questions, and the Government do not have all the answers about the future, which is why the calls for evidence are so important. It is complex and challenging and, although we are not rushing, the Government cannot continue to ignore it. We are grappling with some of these big questions and will continue to work with industry and regulators on how best to meet the challenges. The challenge before us is formidable but, like much of the energy transition we are embarking on, it is not insurmountable. As I frequently say, the point of being in government is to tackle the hard stuff. As with any issue that will outlive any Government, it is important to start the work now. Our gas network will ensure that we can meet the transition challenges, providing us with the resilience and flexibility needed to deliver a fair, smooth and co-ordinated transition while protecting our energy security and independence in an affordable way. It can also be the foundation of new, innovative energy solutions to repurpose and adapt to future energy needs in a sustainable way. Our plans announced in last week’s spending review set us on the right path, allowing us to build on those foundations. We need to harness the expertise and the passion within the gas industry, which I have had the huge privilege to learn from over the past 11 months in this job. We will combine that with the Government’s ability and determination to get this right as we broker a consensus on the way forward with a shared vision for the future of our incredibly important gas network. As the Secretary of State set out at the International Energy Agency summit in London a few weeks ago, we will soon set out in much more detail our views on the future of the gas system. I look forward to continuing to work with the hon. Members present, not least because they have so many helpful suggestions about what the future will look like, and so much expertise to draw on. Contrary to what the shadow Minister said, this is an area in which there is very little ideology. This is a practical problem that we have to solve as a country, so that the gas network is fit for the future, so that consumers benefit and so that we deliver on our energy security in the long term and have the opportunities for economic growth that the gas network can provide. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase again for securing the debate. I wish the rest of his birthday to be just as joyous as this debate, now that he has caught his breath. I thank all hon. Members for their contributions.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Future of the Gas Grid · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship this morning, Dame Siobhain. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for securing today’s debate, and I wish him a very happy birthday. He gave a breathless speech, which was fantastic, and I do not know what better celebration he could ask for than being in Westminster Hall this morning. I thought at one point that he was going to tell us he got the heat pump as a birthday present, which would have been a significant contribution to the cause. Nevertheless, I hope he has a brilliant day. My hon. Friend gave a brilliant speech, and in fact we have had a number of important contributions today, highlighting not only the breadth of experience that we have in this House, which I am always hugely impressed by, but generally our ability, particularly in this part of Parliament, to move outside some of our party political boxes and engage with the wider issue. I think that is hugely helpful. I will return to some of the specific points raised in the debate, but I want to start where my hon. Friend concluded, with his critical point around rhetoric. We need to base the future of our discussions on the gas network in not only fact but pragmatism and a rational look at how we make the best use of an extraordinarily important resource. He also said something that we so often forget in this place: there is no one silver bullet for these things. There are a number of solutions, all of which will play a part in different ways, and we should not discount any of them. Crucially, as many hon. Members have said, if we get this right, there is the potential for tens of thousands of jobs, long into the future, which is so important. I also thank everybody else for their contributions today. It was good to hear the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy), acknowledge—I think for the first time—that there are some lessons to be learned from the past 14 years, although I suspect he has learned the wrong ones, unfortunately. Nevertheless, I will return to some of his points. I am grateful for the opportunity to talk about the future of our gas network—a topic that has for too long been overlooked by, in all candour, successive Governments. That is partly because the gas network is incredibly efficient. It works quietly in the background of all of our lives in one way or another, so often we do not talk about it as much as we talk about the electricity system, but it is incredibly important. I agree with Members about the importance of us having a diverse and secure energy supply; the importance of a gas network is not just to gas itself, but to our electricity system, where it currently plays a critical role. The transition that is already underway is unstoppable, but it is also incredibly important for the future of our country and it needs to involve every community, so I welcome and agree with the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris) and others about the importance of all communities and households being part of it. There is huge potential in the transition to improve on where some of our communities are, so that they feel, as he rightly said, not on the edges of society but part of the innovation. We all have work to do on that, so his message is very keenly heard. Let me discuss some of the context, and then come on to some specific points raised in the debate. This Government have set out to achieve a once-in-a-generation transition in our energy system to ensure that it is fundamentally fit for the future and resilient and tackles, as the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Pippa Heylings) said, the energy trilemma before us: how we bring down bills, deliver on energy security and tackle the climate crisis. Through the spending review, we will invest £13 billion into our warm homes plan over the next five years, helping to cut household bills by up to £600 through the installation of energy efficiency measures. We have secured development funding for the Acorn and Viking CCUS projects, which I will come back to later, supporting our clean power ambition and creating jobs and growth at the same time. By harnessing clean power from green sources in the UK, we also reduce our dependence on volatile fossil fuels. Geopolitical uncertainty in the world is never far away at the moment, which underlines how important it is that we move as quickly as possible towards that place. As I have often said, our focus in our energy system is on the electricity system. This is perhaps understandable, given the scale of the transformation necessary there, but it is good to take time today to talk about the future of the gas network. To reiterate, the Government have the future of the gas network right at the heart of our thinking for the future of our energy system. Gas has been part of this country’s energy story for centuries, from the use of town gas from the late 18th century to the discovery of natural gas in the North sea in the 1960s and the conversion programme. That was an extraordinary feat of transformation in households right across the country over the 1960s and 1970s, which I am far too young to remember. Some hon. Members will be old enough, but I am not naming any individuals.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises an important point. The UK’s energy grid is very resilient, but we are investing to make sure that remains the case in the decades ahead. Ofgem requires transmission owners and distribution network operators to make sure that there is an efficient, economic and co-ordinated system of electricity transmission in the country—and to make sure that it works—but if he wishes to raise any specific issues, I would be happy to hear from him.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is absolutely right. We are trying not just to build the renewables that we need for the future, but to bring the good jobs, the manufacturing and the industry along with them. The Prime Minister has announced £200 million of support for supply chains through Great British Energy, and there will be much more to come. We are also working individually with projects and developers to ensure that we bring the jobs here, and that is why the clean industry bonus is so important.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right, in that we had ambitious plans in our manifesto to create thousands of jobs funded through Great British Energy—something that he failed to vote for, so he is now against the investment that will come. We have secured £40 billion-worth of private investment since we came to office, with hundreds of jobs and many, many thousands to come.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As always, my hon. Friend is a great champion for his local area and its different energy sources. I am very happy to meet him, as geothermal has huge opportunities. I think some of it has yet to come to market, but we look at all opportunities for delivering clean power.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Yes, and I was grateful for the opportunity to meet the hon. Gentleman recently to discuss exactly those points. We encourage all developers to provide a range of local community benefits, and we are consulting on whether that should go further, but in the meantime we want to see community benefit schemes that are as strong as possible for all energy projects, right across the country.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman is wrong on two fronts. First, we are not closing down oil and gas. It will continue to play a part for many years to come, but there is a transition under way, as there has been for many years. The truth of the matter is that, while we want to create the jobs that come next, he turns his face against all the investment in what those jobs will be, which means that, under his plan, the transition will not lead to a future for that incredibly skilled workforce. We are determined to do it differently, so that there are good, well-paid jobs in the future and a secure energy mix for decades to come.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend. There are a number of schemes like this already. The Mining Remediation Authority has a number of projects under way. There is huge potential, and I am happy to meet her to discuss it.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Decoupling Electricity and Gas Prices · Hansard source

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  I always agree with my hon. Friend, but on her initial point, I probably do not. I am not sure that we do all agree in this House that we should remove the volatility of fossil fuel prices. Some want us to remain linked to fossil fuels for longer and longer. We are determined to remove that vulnerability from people’s bills, so that we do not face the price spikes that many families still struggle with. She is right to point to targeted support as well. We are looking at social tariffs. Part of the challenge is that the phrase means different things to different people, but we are clear that bringing down bills for everyone is a top priority for this Government, and the clean power mission is how we will do it.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Decoupling Electricity and Gas Prices · Hansard source

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  The House will have heard the shadow Minister’s failure to welcome solar panels on a hospital and a school in his constituency, but he can deal with his own constituents. On the question of the emissions trading system, on one side, we have National Grid, Energy UK, the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, Make UK and the Confederation of British Industry welcoming it. On the other side, we have the shadow Minister and the deputy leader of the Reform party, the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice). I think I know who I would take my advice from.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Decoupling Electricity and Gas Prices · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his expertise in this area, which he often brings to the House. He is absolutely right that decoupling from volatile and expensive gas prices is critical, and the journey we are on to develop clean power by 2030 will do that. Our objective is to deliver a clean power system where gas only provides the back-up, rather than setting the price, as it currently does. Too often—80% of the time—we rely on gas to set the price. We are trying to remove that, and to build a clean power system for the future.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Decoupling Electricity and Gas Prices · Hansard source

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  Accelerating the clean energy transition away from insecure and expensive fossil fuels towards cheap, clean renewables and nuclear power will help decouple gas and electricity prices. As a result, we will reduce the exposure of consumer bills to volatile international crises and ensure that we never again face the kind of cost of living crisis that the last Government presided over.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Decoupling Electricity and Gas Prices · Hansard source

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  On the Government Benches, we are trying to cut people’s bills as quickly as possible. The hon. Gentleman was a core part of a Government who failed to do that for many years. I am surprised that he did not rise to congratulate Great British Energy on its investment in solar panels on schools and hospitals, because his constituents are benefiting from one on a hospital and one on a school. He should welcome that.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Rosebank Oilfield · Hansard source

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  The consent to develop the Rosebank oilfield was deemed unlawful by the courts. The developer will need to reapply for consent, including an assessment of emissions from burning the fuel produced. We will produce guidance on the environmental assessment of those emissions in due course.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Rosebank Oilfield · Hansard source

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  We published the consultation on what we will do with the EIA guidance as quickly as we could. We are now analysing that. It is a complex issue, as I am sure the hon. Lady will understand. We will publish the response and the process that will now be put in place as soon as possible. Any developers that wish to reapply will then be able to do so.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Rosebank Oilfield · Hansard source

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  I will be careful about what I say in this particular case and on the specific application for obvious reasons. We will be publishing guidance very soon on how the scope 3 emissions—the end-use emissions —will be assessed. Any developers with any projects that wish to reapply will then be able to do so. Each project will go through a regulatory process and be considered on its individual merits.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Fossil Fuels · Hansard source

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  I will not be drawn on confirming whether the hon. Gentleman’s constituency is the most beautiful part of England—I will leave that to him. However, what he proposes sounds like a fantastic idea and I am happy to meet him to discuss it further. We see huge potential for a whole range of renewables. Those kinds of innovative projects—smaller scale as well—are what could deliver not just benefits for the system but real benefits for the communities that host them.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Fossil Fuels · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman and I have discussed this in the House before. He is right to point out that we see an important partnership with Morocco across our economy, and we have outlined more of that in the last few days. The proposal he discusses is from a private company and, like the previous Government, we have been looking at it. We will say more in due course.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Fossil Fuels · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right, representing, as he does, a beautiful part of Scotland and one with huge potential for such schemes. That is why Great British Energy announced £4 million of funding for community energy projects in Scotland, working with the Scottish Government to drive those forward. We see, as my hon. Friend rightly points out, the huge benefits not just of delivering clean power, but of the social and economic value for the communities that host it. We are clear that community-owned energy has huge untapped potential and huge benefits for communities. We want to see much more of it, and Great British Energy will help deliver it.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Fossil Fuels · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend will not be surprised that I completely agree with her. Today, we have announced a new golden age of nuclear power in this country after decades of dither and delay; in fact, I think that the last switch-on of a nuclear power station was before I was even born. [ Interruption. ] It is not that long ago. We are driving forward the real potential that we see in nuclear power, and the Secretary of State will make a statement on that later. That is how we deliver thousands of well-paid, skilled jobs across the country and the important energy security that we need. I hope that we will see SMRs in every part of the United Kingdom, including in Scotland.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Fossil Fuels · Hansard source

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  Happy birthday to you, Mr Speaker. We have been busy since we last met for oral questions. We have confirmed that rooftop solar panels will be standard on all new build homes and have funded £650 million of clean energy upgrades for over 200 buildings. We have also delivered the first solar projects for 11 schools, secured Royal Assent for Great British Energy—the UK’s first national publicly owned energy company in 70 years—launched the marine energy taskforce, signed a green industrial partnership with Norway and kick-started community energy right across the country. We are ambitious in our plans. There is much more to do, but we are doing more than any other Government to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Fossil Fuels · Hansard source

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  We consulted on a detailed plan around the future of energy in the North sea, which includes a detailed section on workforce planning. I am sure the hon. Lady was able to submit a response to that consultation, and we will look carefully at her views. We take the question of workforce incredibly seriously. Jobs will be created right across the clean power mission, including in the biggest upgrade to the transmission infrastructure that we have seen in this country for many years, much of which her party seems to oppose.