North Sea Energy
Debate between Baroness Blake of Leeds and Baroness Foster of Oxton
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for those comments; that was the point I was trying to make. I believe very strongly that positives attract. By going out and talking to people and explaining the progress we wish to make and how we move forward, we are gaining traction.
There is an element of the clean energy debate that we do not often consider and should pay more attention to: the impact on the health of both people working in the industry, and communities that have been exposed to, for example, air quality conditions that we should be looking at. We should be looking after our children’s health and looking after their futures.
There is a positive response. When I go out and talk to businesses, they see the opportunity in a positive way, recognising the challenges, but also that this Government are committed and will work across all the sectors to achieve the aims and objectives ahead of us.
Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)
My Lords, I support the comments made by my noble friend Lord Offord. The title of this Statement on Today’s Lists— “Building the North Sea’s Energy Future”—is an oxymoron; the proposals coming forward from the Energy Secretary are doing quite the opposite. An industrialised nation such as ours cannot be dependent on so much alternative and renewable energy. We will, for the foreseeable future, need to rely on hydrocarbons.
One of my concerns is about energy security and self-sufficiency; I do not think that that has been taken into account at all. We have turbulence across the Middle East and wars going on, obviously with Russia involved, and yet the reliance of the UK and Europe on these ways of bringing energy into our country does not seem to have been taken account of at all. Frankly, what is going on is vandalism. Some 2,000 jobs are at risk, without which probably at least 10,000 people will be without the supply chain, but that is a number that is just thrown up in the air. That will be the hard effect, certainly if we were to look around Aberdeen and such areas.
That notwithstanding, and although it did not concern the North Sea specifically, I attended a very interesting meeting today with Cuadrilla—the company that sunk the wells for shale gas. Over the years we have had to look at alternative ways of fuelling this nation, and have had good discussions, but now, not only is fracking the big bad wolf but the vandalism that is taking place—pouring concrete down perfectly serviceable wells, which may in the future be very useful to us, notwithstanding the geopolitical position and energy uncertainty across the world—is absolutely astonishing.
I note the Minister’s comments, but I am not sure who the Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, is trying to convince. A lot of this is built on ideology and is not helpful to the British economy. We are already seeing businesses suffering with the policies from this Labour Government—for example, the closure of the Vauxhall factory in Luton—and this is just the start. I ask the Minister to discuss further with our Energy Secretary positive ways of moving forward.
The net-zero obsession is going to destroy this economy quicker than most other things. We need a reality check on this if we want this country to grow. According to the Prime Minister, growth is apparently key to the Government’s agenda, but what they are actually proposing will not produce growth.
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I hope that the noble Baroness is not trying to put all the problems created by the last 14 years of the Conservative Government at the door of Ed Miliband. We know that the economy has problems, as a result of disastrous decisions made by recent Ministers of the party opposite.
To re-emphasise what I was saying, the impression that the situation is rosy and needs to be continued with is entirely false. I repeat what I said in my opening comments: oil and gas production has seen a natural decline of 72% between 1999 and 2023, and, as a result, the industry has lost around a third of the direct workforce. The problems are there. We are taking the opportunity to do the right thing by moving towards net zero, and doing so in a way that brings hope, jobs and the prospect of future prosperity to an area that, frankly, has been struggling for some time.
In my experience, public opinion on fracking is at an all-time low. The noble Baroness should reflect on the comments that she made. The Secretary of State has laid out a positive agenda, one that is supported with clear milestones, and a total commitment to moving forward to make this work for the economy of the whole of the United Kingdom.