Oral Answers to Questions
Al Pinkerton Excerpts(1 week, 2 days ago)
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Chris McDonald
I thank my hon. Friend for his letter on the Lea Valley growers. I have had discussions as a result of his prompting with Ministers in other Departments, not only about the Lea Valley growers, but about the horticulture sector more generally. I will update him on that in response to his letter. I thank him for saying that my answers so far have been acceptable, and hopefully that one is too.
Dr Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath) (LD)
The Minister for Energy (Michael Shanks)
Co-operation with our EU counterparts is vitally important when it comes to energy security. I recently travelled to the WindEurope conference in Madrid, where I joined other European Ministers to discuss how recent global events have shown that we have to work together to deliver on our energy security. We have held constructive discussions with the EU on the internal electricity market and those continue.
Dr Pinkerton
At a time of intense geopolitical instability, British households remain particularly exposed to volatile global energy prices. Indeed, Ofcom has announced a 13% rise in the energy price cap from July. Given that there are interconnectors with six European countries already, does the Minister agree with a coterie of esteemed energy economists that the single greatest thing that this Government could do to strengthen our energy security, drive long-term investment in renewable energy and bring down bills would be to recouple our electricity market with that of the European Union? [Interruption.]
Michael Shanks
I agree with the hon. Member. We have this bizarre situation where we have chuntering from the Opposition Front Benchers about the fact that we have interconnections with Europe. We have had them for decades, and they are important to our energy security. That was the case under both Governments, and theirs is an absurd position. He is absolutely right to say that in a moment of geopolitical uncertainty, closer links with Europe are important. Our interconnectors import and export every single day to the benefit of consumers in Britain. We want to see much more efficient energy trading, and that is why we are working on those formal negotiations about the EU internal electricity market, which is important for Britain.
Oral Answers to Questions
Al Pinkerton Excerpts(4 months ago)
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Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Dr Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath) (LD)
Zöe Franklin (Guildford) (LD)
Chris McDonald
It is exactly that disparity in international energy prices for industry, which the previous Conservative Government left us with, that we are addressing through our clean power 2030 mission. However, we recognise that as clean power is coming online, industry will need further support. Both Ametek and SSS Gears are exactly the sorts of manufacturing businesses that this Government wish to support through initiatives such as our British industrial competitiveness scheme. The consultation for that scheme has just closed—I do hope both of those businesses responded to that consultation—and we will publish the results shortly.
Dr Pinkerton
Small and large businesses in my constituency of Surrey Heath—everything from small cafés to care providers and large manufacturers—tell me that they are being crushed by high energy costs. Given that the wholesale cost of gas has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, can the Minister indicate what proportion of a typical business energy bill is driven by wholesale costs, network charges and policy costs, and which one of those is likely to be borne down on over the next year as a direct consequence of Government action?
Chris McDonald
The hon. Gentleman is quite right to point out the impact of energy costs on small businesses. As we have seen, that has been largely driven over many years by the linkage between energy costs and gas prices, which is something that this Government are determined to deal with as we pile on renewable energy as part of our clean power mission. UK gas costs are competitive with Europe after policy costs are included, but of course we want to remove businesses from having to rely on the whims of the fossil fuel market and enable them to rely on low-cost, secure, home-grown energy.
Oral Answers to Questions
Al Pinkerton Excerpts(7 months, 4 weeks ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Katie White)
I share my hon. Friend’s concern regarding those reports. This Government are focused on making transport greener, including by cutting air pollution to improve health and the environment. We also need to ensure that people are abiding by the rules. The responsible body, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, is pursuing the potential diesel emissions non-compliance using its procedures and the tools available. Officials at the DFT have assured me that the findings from these investigations will be published in a timely and appropriate manner; as an impatient politician, I can assure her that I will continue to press for a prompt and thorough interpretation of “timely”.
Dr Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath) (LD)
