Great British Energy Bill

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Tuesday 14th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath) (Lab)]

My Lords, I think it would be helpful to the House if I explain this Motion and, for those noble Lords who were not in your Lordships’ House at 10 pm last night, the circumstances that give rise to it.

The Great British Energy Bill is an eight-clause Bill that provides a statutory basis for Great British Energy as a publicly owned company to become operationally independent and start delivering benefits for the UK. This includes driving clean energy deployment and boosting energy independence so we can enjoy the benefits of clean, secure, homegrown energy. It was in the Government’s manifesto, it was one of the first Bills to be introduced following the general election and it has been through all its Commons stages.

The Bill was initially scheduled for two days of Committee of the whole House. Progress in Committee has been, shall we say, somewhat slow. In total, 153 amendments have been tabled, which is around 19 amendments for every clause of the Bill. Last night, it was the Government’s intent to finish Committee, but at five minutes past 10 the Opposition Chief Whip moved the adjournment of the House, which was successful.

Report has been agreed for 11 February. Noble Lords will have noted that, over the next two weeks, the House will be heavily engaged in this Chamber with the Mental Health Bill and Martyn’s law. So, noting the request from the Official Opposition for more time to scrutinise the Bill, my noble friend the Chief Whip has kindly arranged for it to be considered in Grand Committee on Wednesday 15 January and 22 January if required, and noble Lords will be able to table further amendments today. If the Motion is agreed to, the groupings will be circulated to those who have tabled amendments as soon as possible, with a deadline for changes at 8 pm. I hope this will allow further debate on the Bill, which indeed is what the Official Opposition requested, and I very much hope that the whole House will support the Motion. I beg to move.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, last night this House voted to adjourn the House at a conventional time of 10 pm to stop the Government rushing through the Great British Energy Bill—on which the Government intend to spend £8.3 billion of taxpayers’ money. Today, after two and a half days of scrutiny in this Chamber, the Government are seeking to finish the Bill away from the Floor of your Lordships’ House in Grand Committee. As far as I recall, where the Official Opposition object, this is quite an unprecedented move. Before we adjourned last night, we completed nine groups and started a 10th. In all the years that I was a Minister, I would have been delighted to have completed and made so much progress on a Bill in a day. Ten groups is not a filibuster; it is reasonable progress in anybody’s books.

I note the Government’s new habit of labelling groups “degrouped” despite us providing reasoned titles for them. So, for the benefit of the House, I will very briefly run through the groups that we debated yesterday, and then perhaps the Minister, if he wishes, can tell us which of these did not deserve to be debated: directions to GB Energy on consumer energy bills, new jobs, developing supply chains, the cost of fulfilling strategic priorities, national grid infrastructure, carbon emissions, imported energy, UK manufacturers and financial returns; the impact of GB Energy investments on electricity prices, returns, employment and the environment; consultation and oversight; the inappropriate use of prime agricultural land; a large miscellaneous group—actually intended to be helpful to the Government—which included mandatory reinvestment of profits, exclusion of investments to projects with government subsidies, independent evaluation of investments, limitation of investments to UK-registered companies, limitations on money spent on travel to conferences, and support for companies and universities; nuclear energy; curtailment of renewable energy; energy storage; renewable energy generation; and reporting, accounts and auditing.

Which of those topics did not deserve fair and proper scrutiny? Energy security, energy storage and the environment? Just this weekend, we have read reports of the Chancellor of the Exchequer negotiating closer ties with China and of fuel reserves reaching critical lows in the very cold spell. It is very important and topical business. If there is a group of amendments that did not deserve to be debated, I should be very grateful to be enlightened.

Every noble Lord in this House has a right to be heard, and yesterday we heard from Members with widespread experience and expertise. I challenge any noble Lord to read back through Hansard and find me one speech that they consider inappropriate. All of them were informed and insightful, and within the advisory speaking times set out in the Companion.

The job of the Opposition is to scrutinise the work of the Government and hold the Government to account. This is nothing personal; it is simply the proper functioning of our Parliament. When the tables were turned and it was the Labour Party occupying these Benches, we had 13 Bills which took more than 10 days in Committee. The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 and the Welfare Reform Act 2012 took 17 days, and the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 each took 15 days. We debated thousands upon thousands of amendments. I was often the Minister on those Bills. Since 2015, the most amendments tabled to a Bill has been 1,249, but there have been 51 Bills which had more than 200 amendments tabled to them, 23 Bills that had more than 400 and 16 that had more than 500.

We will not be voting against this Motion today. We made our point last night, and I had hoped that the Government might listen. I reiterate that we simply seek to subject legislation to the fullest and most appropriate scrutiny, as is our responsibly.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for not opposing the Motion that I intend to press in a moment. Of course I recognise that it is the role of the Opposition to scrutinise legislation. I would say that Grand Committee offers an opportunity for effective scrutiny, and I have no doubt that, in the two days reserved, we will see many more contributions from noble Lords—no doubt repeating the points that they have made time and time again on this Bill.

I just say to the noble Baroness that, in relation to the groups of amendments that we debated last night on directions, it is interesting that when, at the beginning of Committee and at Second Reading, noble Lords opposite seemed to accuse the Government of wishing to use the Clause 6 directions to micromanage the company, we made it abundantly clear that it is a backstop reserve which we hope will never have to be used. Noble Lords opposite then simply used the direction clause to act to come forward with a series of amendments. Many of the issues had already been debated in the first five clauses, and there was a vigorous degrouping to ensure that we had many repetitive contributions. I have been a Member of your Lordships’ House for 27 years. I recognise a filibuster when I see it. Last night was a filibuster.