King’s Speech

Lord Wigley Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wigley (PC)]

My Lords, I too congratulate both maiden speakers.

As my noble friend Lady Smith of Llanfaes noted yesterday, a new political era has opened in Wales. Plaid Cymru First Minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, emphasised in his first conversation with Keir Starmer a wish to work constructively with Westminster on issues of common interest. An indicator of reciprocal good will would be an early review of Wales’s funding formula. We have today in another place heard about the reset of HS2—a massive £100 billion boost to England’s transport infrastructure—so can we now have an assurance that this time Wales will receive consequential funding previously denied?

We are today discussing education, culture, technology and energy security. Education and culture are largely devolved, so I will concentrate on creating job opportunities in the energy sector in Wales. Coal, nuclear and hydro have long been part of Wales’s industrial structure. Long-lasting bitterness arose when profits from coal were rarely used to Wales’s benefit, yet we were left to clear up the mess and live with dangerous tips. Please will the energy independence Bill ensure that the full costs of removing or securing remaining coal tips are not lumbered on to the Welsh Government, nor left to private companies to work residual coal in a largely unregulated way? I welcome the decisions to move ahead with SMRs at the Wylfa site. Will the Government, in collaboration with Senedd Cymru, work to ensure appropriate training facilities to equip local workers with the necessary skills?

Another aspect of energy security is energy storage. Pump storage hydroelectricity generation, such as the Dinorwig power station, is an essential partner to nuclear, tidal, solar and wind-generated electricity to balance supply and demand. It is quite outrageous that public money—as much as £346 million—was paid in 2025 in Scotland alone to those operating wind turbines, compensating them for turning off their generating equipment because there was, at certain times of day, a glut of electricity. The figure for the UK was almost £1.5 billion last year. Pump storage schemes, along with developing battery technology, are the obvious answer to such challenges of mismatch. Will the Minister please clarify what is delaying the licensing of new pump storage capacity, and will he review the schemes queuing up in north-west Wales for approval and accelerate that process?

Finally, will the Government take steps to defuse the tensions in some rural areas in Wales where local communities are in conflict with large-scale wind generation projects with their networks of highly intrusive transmission lines? These detract from the natural beauty, and have a detrimental effect on the tourist industry, to the cost of local communities. Surely, there should be an agreed protocol that either such lines are placed underground or those suffering such impositions should be financially compensated. In the absence of any such offsetting benefit, people should have a veto over schemes which undermine their quality of life.

Plaid Cymru looks forward to playing a constructive role in scrutinising the Government’s programme as we move forward.