Biomass Power Generation

Anne Main Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2013 Westminster Hall

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

I apologise for arriving late for the debate, Mrs Main. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty (Nigel Adams) on securing it, and thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price) for taking my intervention. I should declare an interest as a member of the all-party group for the wood panel industry, and I have an employer in the industry in my constituency. I absolutely endorse all the points that have been made thus far, but I would make two points to my hon. Friend. The first is that the timber price has gone up by well over half—

[Mrs Anne Main (in the Chair)]

Order. I remind the hon. Gentleman that interventions must be brief.

[Guy Opperman]

Will my hon. Friend comment on the fact that the timber price has gone up by at least half since we have had the domestic subsidy?

--- Later in debate ---

[Ian Swales]

The hon. Gentleman is repeating one of the great fallacies about the industry, on which I think that the hon. Member for Selby and Ainsty (Nigel Adams) touched. Let us say that there is 20-year cropping of a stand of trees, with a 20th taken out and replanted. All the evidence shows that the overall carbon in that stand of trees at the end of the year will be the same, or will even have increased, despite the cropping, because all the other trees will have become bigger. The idea that when one tree is taken out—

[Mrs Anne Main (in the Chair)]

Order. I ask for brief interventions because we are short of time.

[Ian Swales]

Thank you, Mrs Main.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mrs Anne Main (in the Chair)]

Order. I remind the two hon. Members who wish to speak that the winding-up speeches will start at 3.40 pm. I hope that that will be taken into account so that they both can be accommodated. I call Glyn Davies.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

I shall try to limit my speech to five minutes, Mrs Main. Will that be within the time limit?

[Mrs Anne Main (in the Chair)]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be able to say all he wants to say.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jackie Doyle-Price]

The area that my hon. Friend is opening up now—the impact on consumers—is a very important one across the wider perspective of energy policy. The reality is that we need to invest in generating capacity, and biomass will be an important ingredient of that. If we do not do that, the price of energy for consumers will go up, because we will be having to buy that power on the open market.

[Mrs Anne Main (in the Chair)]

Order. I remind the hon. Gentleman that the winding-up speeches will start in just under four minutes.

[Guy Opperman]

Mrs Main, I take everything that you say very seriously and most particularly the fact that I have two minutes and 54 seconds in which to finish. It comes down to this. The Minister is a free-market economics guru. He is a robust embracer of his brief. However, I remain to be convinced of why we subsidise one item for one particular organisation, while we do not subsidise on the other hand. I am told by my hon. Friend the Member for Selby and Ainsty (Nigel Adams), who is both a friend of mine and very eloquent in the way he puts his case, that there is no effectual usage of domestic wood in this country—yet we still subsidise it. With respect, that is totally illogical. Either the subsidy is required to continue for domestic wood, or it is not. Mrs Main, I thank you.