Net Zero: 2050 Target

Debate between Graham Stuart and Gavin Newlands

Tuesday 6th June 2023 Westminster Hall

[Graham Stuart]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. We are looking at the Xlinks project. We have set up a team to look at it with no further commitment other than to make an assessment. It will be reporting to me shortly on that. We will look at the outline business case going forward. We are looking at it; I do not want to go further—positively or negatively—than saying that.

[Gavin Newlands]

I realise it is a stretch for the Minister to try to portray himself as the adult in the room with his contribution, but he mentioned good access. Will he therefore tell us what will happen with the grid constraints across the border, even in Orkney where all the energy it produces cannot actually be fed into the grid? When will that be resolved?

[Graham Stuart]

I thank the hon. Member for that question. It is a good question because the grid constraints, transmission and local connection are the biggest barriers standing in the way of decarbonising our electricity system by 2035. That is why the networks commissioner was asked to investigate that and will be reporting to us this month. That is why the Prime Minister appointed for the first time a Minister for Nuclear and Networks, my hon. Friend the Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie), who is working on that. The hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North is absolutely right to point out that the transformation we have seen in renewables, the change in our generation system and the requirement to grow our electricity capacity going forward puts enormous strain on that and creates not only supply chain, financing and deployment challenges in that space, but political ones because of the infrastructure impact on communities. A lot of work is going on in that space, and I am working closely with Scottish Government colleagues and other colleagues to try to ensure that we work in the most coherent manner possible.

We have heard mention in the debate of the need to improve the energy performance of homes across the country. Notwithstanding the transformation we have brought about—it is not enough—that is why we have established a new energy efficiency taskforce to drive forward improvements. That is why we are spending £12.6 billion over this Parliament and up to 2028 to support and provide long-term funding and certainty, supporting the growth of supply chains and ensuring that we can scale up delivery over time. Only yesterday I visited Octopus Energy’s centre, looking at how that company is trying to design heat pumps to be cheaper to install and more efficient, so they can drive the cost down and speed up the time it takes to install them, thus making the decarbonisation of heat in homes, which is a thorny and challenging subject, more realistic and deliverable.

The delivery of net zero relies on strong business action. That is why we brought together senior business and finance leaders into a new strategic net zero council co-chaired, alongside myself, by Co-op Group CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq. It includes Carl Ennis, CEO of Siemens; Ian Stuart, UK CEO of HSBC; Chris Hulatt, the co-founder of Octopus Investments, and others from UK business. The full membership reflects the cross-cutting nature of our net zero challenge. The next meeting is planned to be held in No. 10. We are mapping all the various business and sectoral organisations focused on net zero, looking to ensure that we have the most coherent architecture and that we can develop road maps for each sector, so that we can take the cross-cutting nature of Government in other policies and put it into something that people in particular sectors can more easily adjust to and adapt and that investors can invest in. The green jobs delivery group was formed after the publication of the net zero strategy and followed work by my right hon. Friend—

Electric Vehicle Battery Production

Debate between Graham Stuart and Gavin Newlands

Wednesday 18th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

I thank my hon. Friend, who is always championing her constituency and its interests, and emphasising the fact that yes, quite rightly, critical minerals are important, and that working with partners and trusted allies is absolutely critical. Colleagues in the Department for International Trade and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are absolutely alive to that and we use our posts around the world to make sure we build a consensus and a common approach. We want security not just for ourselves, but for our democratic partners too.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

Battery production and electric vehicle roll-out counts for nothing if the EV battery charging infrastructure is not adequate. England still lags well behind Scotland in its charging network. This Government have a target of 300,000 chargers by 2030. Last year, they installed just under 8,000 chargers and that was a ramp up in installation. The Government are not going to meet their target, are they?

[Graham Stuart]

The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight the importance of charging infrastructure. We need to do more and we need to do it faster. We are absolutely focused on delivering that.