Great British Energy Bill

Ann Davies Excerpts

2nd reading
Thursday 5th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lefarydd—thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr Perkins), to hear so many maiden speeches here today—especially from our fellow Celts in Cornwall and, of course, the hon. Member for Clwyd East (Becky Gittins)—and to contribute to this important debate. The climate crisis and the need to decarbonise our energy generation are among the most pressing challenges of our time, and how we choose to respond will shape the future of all our communities, including those in Carmarthenshire I have the privilege to represent.

I am deeply honoured to have been elected to represent the newly formed constituency of Caerfyrddin, which was created from the previous seats of Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, and of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire. Although new in this Parliament, the constituency has historical roots, having existed under similar boundaries between 1918 and 1997.

I would first like to pay tribute to my immediate predecessors, Jonathan Edwards and Simon Hart. Jonathan served our community diligently for 14 years, demonstrating the essence of being a constituency MP, which is to work hard, serve all and be rooted within our communities. Simon also served for 14 years with dedication, and I acknowledge that to the western parts of Caerfyrddin.

Our constituency has a proud history, and it is impossible to speak of it without mentioning Gwynfor Evans, who won the seat back in 1966 as the first ever Plaid Cymru MP. His victory was a watershed moment for Welsh nationalism, and I am acutely aware that I would not be standing here today without Gwynfor, so his name might make a few appearances in this speech. It is in part thanks to him, and those who worked alongside him, that Plaid Cymru today represents our highest ever proportion of Welsh seats in this esteemed organisation, and we do not take that responsibility lightly. It is also thanks to Gwynfor that today we are able to take the oath of allegiance in Welsh, and in Cornish as was mentioned earlier, within this establishment. He was the first MP to attempt to do so in 1966, and was rebuked by the then Speaker. We have, of course, moved on since those days.

I also want briefly to mention Megan Lloyd George, who was the first female MP for Carmarthen—I am the second—between 1957 and 1966. It was a surreal moment, on the morning that I was sung off from the train station in Caerfyrddin, to find when we landed in Paddington that I was on the Megan Lloyd George train.

In many respects, Caerfyrddin is a microcosm of Wales. We have the lush green Tywi, Taf and Teifi valleys, rich in natural beauty, and to the south and east we have a proud industrial heritage with the coalmines of Cwm Gwendraeth and Dyffryn Aman. Those communities, like so many across Wales, still bear the scars of that industrial past—poor housing, low-paid work, and poor health outcomes are legacies that we must all address. We are all too aware of the effects that that extractive economy has had on Wales. Our land produced vast mineral wealth, yet much of the economic benefit was extracted for the profit of others, leaving our communities to bear the human cost.

Renewable energy now presents an historic opportunity for the Welsh economy, similar to the role that coal once played. However, I fear that history has little regard to our communities, and is in danger of repeating itself. Under this Government’s Great British Energy Bill, private companies will be encouraged to build wind farms and develop tidal energy, solar, hydropower and carbon capture projects under leasing agreements with the Crown Estate.

Let us mention the Crown Estate for a moment—a company that holds assets in Wales valued at more than £853 million in 2023. Despite having powers over Welsh natural resources, the Welsh Government have no powers over the Crown Estate, so the profits from leasing to private companies go straight to the UK Treasury, with a cut for the royal family. Those powers were devolved to our friends in Scotland in 2017, so why not to Wales? The large often multinational companies that the Government will be encouraging to lead development under GB Energy will mean, yet again, profits flowing out of Wales, with little gain for our communities. Ironically, some of those companies are state-owned enterprises, but it is citizens of other nations who will benefit, rather than our own.

I mentioned the lush valleys that I represent, the Teifi and Tywi. Under the current plans of Green GEN Cymru and Bute Energy, a 90 km long, 132 kV dual circuit overhead line is being proposed, which has been met with widespread local resistance. Local people are passionately in favour of decarbonisation, but we simply ask that the Welsh Government’s policy is implemented, which is that,

“electricity transmission cables should be placed underground where possible, not just in designated landscapes but where possible.”

We know that undergrounding is already commonplace in many European countries, particularly using developing cable plough technology. The UK and Welsh Governments should be placing greater emphasis on developers incorporating such undergrounding into their proposals. Landowners across the Tywi and Teifi valleys are prepared to allow access to land if an undergrounding commitment is made by Green GEN Cymru. Unfortunately, despite many attempts by me and others, the company refuses to make that commitment. It would undoubtedly save developers time and money if they would just fully engage meaningfully with our communities.

In his maiden speech, Gwynfor Evans described Carmarthenshire as

“a county of very great natural wealth”.—[Official Report, 26 July 1966; Vol. 732, c. 1499.]

He said it was home to the only anthracite coalfield in Britain, steelworks and ports, and that it had vast agricultural potential, but he added that people

“see no evidence of this prosperity. What they see is mines closing, railways closing, steel workers being made redundant”—

as we have now—

“and a decline in agriculture.”—[Official Report, 26 July 1966; Vol. 732, c. 1498.]

It was as true then as it is today. Rural depopulation remains an impending crisis in Caerfyrddin.

I was born and raised in Llanarthne. I have moved only four miles in my entire life. I farmed there. I have a tenanted dairy farm unit with my husband Gareth, who is up in the Gallery with my family and friends. I am a mother of three daughters and a mamgu of seven. I know I do not look it—you all should have jumped in there. You lost your opportunity, boys.

I am all too aware of the shift among many of those in our younger generations away from agriculture, with many moving to cities to work. If we allow global corporations to treat Wales as a playground for their activities, without ensuring that local communities benefit economically, socially and ecologically, we only exacerbate the depopulation of our countryside. We have already seen large international corporations buying up farmland in Carmarthenshire to plant trees to offset their own carbon footprints, but without changing any of their commercial practices. That is not the path to a sustainable future for our communities, and it is not the path towards food security or the best use of land. We need legislation that ensures that local communities derive the greatest benefits from renewable energy investments.

Climate action cannot succeed while we continue to encourage an extractive economy, and it is our responsibility to develop our rural economy to be locally focused. That creates well-paid jobs for local people and regenerates wealth within our communities. As the Member for Caerfyrddin, I want to see a different economic model for Wales that is locally owned, where the benefits are retained within our communities and where development is driven not solely for profit, but for the wellbeing of our people. We should adopt a distributed, decentralised model of energy generation that spreads ownership and benefits broadly across our communities. Those two aspects—ownership and benefit—must go hand in hand.

To return to Gwynfor’s words from his maiden speech, he said that

“the Welsh are beginning to take their country as seriously as the English take their country and as seriously as the Danes and Swedes take their countries.”—[Official Report, 26 July 1966; Vol. 732, c. 1498.]

Thanks to Gwynfor and the foundation he laid, the people of Wales take their country seriously. We have our own lawmaking Parliament, and our two languages—Welsh and English—officially have full equal status in public life. There is much we can still do and much we can learn from other nations. Denmark has rooted its decarbonisation efforts in local ownership, which has accelerated its progress, because it has garnered widespread public support. In Denmark, there has been a legal requirement since 2009 for at least 20% of renewable energy projects to be offered to local ownership. The Institute of Welsh Affairs has recently suggested a similar threshold of around 15% as a minimum for Wales. That is the kind of forward thinking that we need.

During the election campaign, many people kept saying to me, “You’re not a normal politician.” My response was, “Why aren’t I? I am a mam, a mamgu, a farmer, a business owner—running a children’s nursery that we started from scratch—a former teacher and a lecturer. And there isn’t a training module for this job, is there? It’s just life experience.” I am determined in this new role to show women in Carmarthenshire that we all belong in the rooms where decisions are taken, absolutely.

I carry with me the voices of those who have been overlooked for far too long: farmers who toil the land; families who strive for a better future; and communities who deserve far more than crumbs from the table. The path forward must be one where Wales controls its own destiny, where the wealth of our natural resources enriches our people and where the decisions that shape our future are made not in boardrooms far away but by the very people who live and work in our communities. That is how we will ensure protection for our environment and our society for the years to come. Diolch yn fawr.