Gas-fired Power Stations

Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Callanan

Thursday 14th March 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord is right in that the number of larger generators on the system is falling, with the elimination later this year of coal generation —we will have phased it out completely. He is right, again, that the gas generators that we are talking about—which will be some refurbished existing plants, but also a few new ones—will be able to take part in the capacity market auctions. These are essentially auctions for back-up capacity that may be required in certain scenarios.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, I wonder if my noble friend the Minister can enlarge slightly on the question posed to him by the noble Baroness on the Labour Front Bench about hydrogen adaptation. I very much welcome the Statement; it seems to me important to tackle this issue in the proportionate, affordable and measured way, rather than in a millenarian spirit. Can my noble friend the Minister outline a little bit of what the Government’s hydrogen strategy is as part of that solution?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for the question; I am very happy to do that. We are progressing a very advanced hydrogen strategy, which I will try to summarise in a few words. We let the first 11 electrolytic hydrogen contracts before Christmas, offering £2.1 billion-worth of long-term support for the development of electrolytic hydrogen. We have a few blue hydrogen projects that are currently taking part in the CCUS negotiations. We are currently putting in place business models for a transportation and storage system and hope to progress that later this year, as well as the first couple of storage projects. We have a very ambitious hydrogen project; we think that hydrogen has a very important role to play in the net-zero scenario, both in terms of long-term energy storage and in decarbonising some elements of industry that are particularly hard to decarbonise. We should of course electrify where we can, but we will still need hydrogen power to generate power in some of those sectors.

Decarbonisation

Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Callanan

Thursday 13th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The consultation only closed at the end of last month, so the noble Baroness will need to give us a bit of time to analyse the hundreds of responses that we received. It is a complicated issue, and we of course understand the desire for quicker action, but there is a whole range of factors to be taken into account. We have to be very careful not to indulge in some form of green protectionism, where we incentivise lower-standard products against others that are better performing. Across a whole range of sectors and procurement areas, it is a complicated issue that deserves to be studied properly.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, the essence of climate change is that it is global and does not recognise borders. It is very disappointing that we have so many calls for responses that are essentially protectionist, introverted and selfish. Will my noble friend confirm that, just because our allies in the United States—and indeed in the European Union—are going down the road towards protectionism, carbon adjustment taxes and so on, this country will not disadvantage itself or raise the price of the green technologies that we need to combat this global problem?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend has been steadfast for many years in his support for free trade—a cause that I manifestly agree with. But it is a complicated issue. It looks as though the EU and US are going down the road of carbon adjustment mechanism taxes, but, as I said in my Answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, it is a complicated issue. For instance, do we want to incentivise the installation of poorer-quality solar panels that may be constructed with lower carbon intensity, or better-quality solar panels? That is one example of millions that I could give.

Green Investment

Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 7th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Earl raises important points with regard to trade negotiations. I am not familiar with the details so I will have to write to him.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, there is a grotesque misnomer here. The Inflation Reduction Act will in fact raise trade barriers, push up prices and thus increase inflation. Worst of all, like the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, it is likely to set off a series of beggar-my-neighbour retaliatory measures, not least from the European Union. Will my noble friend the Minister confirm that this country remains wedded to the principles of free trade and that, if others put rocks in their harbours, we will not retaliate by putting rocks in our harbours?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes an important point. I know how committed he is to and how hard he works for the principle of international free trade, which we totally support. We want to engage with the US on these matters but we need to convince it and, of course, the EU that free, fair and open trade benefits everyone. That is the key point that we need to put across to them.

European Research Council

Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Callanan

Wednesday 27th April 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The UK has provided a guarantee to all those researchers. If the ERC continues to say that they will not be eligible for grants, as long as the EU itself refuses to agree participation in the Horizon programme, then the Government have said that we will guarantee all those researchers’ grants.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, of the world’s top 40 universities, seven or eight—depending on which ranking we use—are in the United Kingdom. None is in the European Union. Does the Minister really think that the success of our higher education sector is dependent on participation in the Horizon programme?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes a very good point. We think on balance that it is worth associating with the Horizon programme, which is why we agreed to participate, paying our full amount into it of course for that participation. However, if the EU refuses to stand by the agreements that it signed, we will put alternative arrangements in place, and all the sums that would have been allocated to researchers under the Horizon programme will instead be funded directly by the UK.

National Living Wage

Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Callanan

Monday 17th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Of course, I completely agree with the noble Baroness that, where it is possible to do so, employers should pay the higher rates for the living wage that she referenced. We want to see as many employers as possible doing that, but when the Low Pay Commission makes recommendations—and it has representations from all sides of the industrial sectors—it takes into account business affordability. I am sure the noble Baroness would not want to see the rise in unemployment that might result from unrealistic increases in the minimum wage.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, of course, any increase in wages tends to get passed on to customers. Is my noble friend the Minister aware of studies that show that these increases are disproportionately felt by people on low incomes? If you have a higher wage cost which pushes up prices in a fast food joint, it is not generally investment bankers who are impacted. At a time of rising living costs, what assessment have the Government made of the inflationary impact of repeatedly raising the living wage faster than wages generally?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes an important point. I am disappointed by some of the responses from the Opposition Benches. As always with these matters, it is a question of getting the balance right. Of course, we all want to see the lowest paid in society paid more—nobody would want to see that more than I would and I am sure my noble friend feels the same way—but we have to bear in mind the importance of considering whether it is affordable for business. That is why we have the independent Low Pay Commission that makes recommendations on the maximum level of increase that can be afforded without undue inflationary impacts and is affordable for business.

Energy Prices

Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Callanan

Wednesday 12th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Let me tell the noble Baroness what we are doing. The winter fuel payment provides all pensioners across Britain with between £100 and £300 to put toward their fuel bills, which costs £2 billion a year. The cold weather payment provides vulnerable households on qualifying benefits with payments of £25 during periods of cold weather, and the Government have spent £100 million on that. We will continue to spend considerable sums of money to help those most in need.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, one thing that we have learned over the past 22 months is that government targets sometimes have to be adjusted in the light of circumstance. Would there be a situation in which the Government might reconsider their net-zero timetable; for example, if costs on consumers or taxpayers were disproportionate and if there were a realistic prospect that technological improvement would mean a significant fall in those costs with a deferral?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Of course, we want to keep all these things under review but, as my noble friend is well aware, net zero is a legally binding commitment, legislated for by Parliament—and, of course, it is the duty of government to carry out the wishes of Parliament. If a future Parliament or Government wish to reconsider that, I am sure that the Government at the time would want to take full cognisance of that.

Non-UK Residents: Property Ownership Register

Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 2nd November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I realise the Liberal Democrats are obsessed with the EU, but this has nothing to do with it. The two events are totally separate. We could implement ROBO whether or not we were members of the EU. We are intending to implement the register of beneficial ownership when parliamentary time allows.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, the pre-eminence of London rests on having light but effective regulation, a dependable common law system and uncorrupt judges, not on a cult or illicit money. Of course, there are other pressures on the legislative timetable, but will my noble friend the Minister at least undertake to try to find space in this Session as part of the anti-corruption measures to which we are committed internationally?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I totally agree with my noble friend. Just last week in the spending review we committed to new investments of £63 million for Companies House reform and £42 million for tackling money laundering and fraud. This is alongside the economic crime anti-money laundering levy which will provide an additional £100 million funding per year from 2023-24. We are committed to cracking down on money laundering and we will implement this legislation when time allows.

Hydrogen Economy

Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Callanan

Monday 19th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I can understand the noble Lord’s scepticism, and he is right: we need to take a hard-headed, practical, cost-effective look at hydrogen production. The costs of producing it are, of course, highly uncertain. They will depend on a variety of factors, which will evolve over time as it is deployed, but in the forthcoming strategy, we will indeed take a detailed look at the cost of producing hydrogen at the moment.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)]

My Lords, I refer to my declaration in the register, specifically as an adviser to JCB. Batteries have their place, but they also have their limits. They cannot power planes, trains, ships or HGVs, and 73% of them are produced by China, which controls the rare earths. We have huge advantages as the leading country in hydrogen technology. Will my noble friend commit to an expeditious publication of a national hydrogen strategy to ensure that we retain our global dominance?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes extremely good points. We have a number of world-leading companies in these fields. Indeed, I was able to visit JCB a few weeks ago, and drive a hydrogen digger—also without apparent accident, which is quite amazing. A number of other companies are also developing excellent, innovative products in this field. We have some world-leading companies but, as I said in a previous answer, our hydrogen strategy will indeed be published in due course.