King’s Speech

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke (Lab)]

My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Hunt on the Front Bench; he has a distinguished career behind him and I think he has an even more distinguished career before him. I also pay tribute to my noble friend Lady Hayman of Ullock, who will probably be pestered by me for quite some time. I declare two interests: I am the honorary president of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association and I am also the honorary president of Energy Action Scotland, which is Scotland’s pre-eminent fuel poverty charity.

I was not going to say anything about housing, but I would like to put one point into everyone’s minds. In a cold country like Scotland—and it is a cold and wet country—how houses are built and made available to people is of great importance in dealing with fuel poverty. Fuel poverty is a terrible thing; I have seen it when I was a Member of Parliament, and I would not wish it on anyone.

I was absolutely delighted to see Great British Energy in the King’s Speech yesterday. It took me back to when I was a young economist for the Scottish Trades Union Congress at the time when oil and gas was discovered in the North Sea. Organisations such as BNOC, which became Britoil, settled in Scotland. Not only did we have the engineers, but we also had the people building and those who were dealing with the economic consequences of such a vast industry. That still contributes enormously to the Scottish economy, so it is fantastic that there will be Great British Energy in Scotland as a public energy company.

Great British Energy needs to look at the whole system, including CO₂ and hydrogen infrastructure, which is required for the decarbonisation of industry. I suspect that very few people in the Chamber will be aware that the UK has almost one-third of Europe’s geological storage capability. The potential of all of that is even greater for Britain than it is for all of the EU. There is huge potential in terms of jobs. Something like 70,000 jobs could be created in the energy sector, and, of course, there are great opportunities for taxation. There is an estimated £30 billion of tax revenues once we get to 2030 and on to 2050 and beyond. There is a great opportunity for us to move ahead. Carbon capture, utilisation and storage is an essential solution for reaching net-zero emissions. It plays a vital role in reducing emissions from industries such as steel, cement, chemicals and refining.

There is a vision for CCUS. One of the things that really buoyed me up in the run-up to the general election—like most people, I am always nervous of general elections being committed to one party—was that every time Rachel Reeves, now Chancellor of the Exchequer, made a major speech, she mentioned carbon capture and storage, so we know that in the heart of the Treasury there is an understanding of what can be created. Last night, the Secretary of State for Scotland raised with me the issue of carbon capture and storage, and I felt like dancing out of Dover House for the first time in a very long time, knowing there is that level of support across government.

There are some areas where we need the Government to act. There is the priority of low-carbon energy. We welcome the national wealth fund, because it can be used to secure private investment in industrial decarbonisation technologies, which is very important indeed. The Labour manifesto pledged £1 billion of the fund to support carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

We find ourselves in a situation where, as I mentioned, £30 billion of private investment is waiting to be deployed into CCUS, which could provide great revenue to the UK, but the Government have a window of opportunity to secure the first final investment decisions on track 1 CCUS clusters in the north-west and north-east of England by September this year. That CO₂ infra- structure will deliver industrial decarbonisation, clean hydrogen and flexible low-carbon power. This is such an exciting opportunity to start construction this year on the world’s first large-scale integrated CCUS clusters, and I urge my colleagues on the Front Bench not to forget how great these opportunities are.

The track 1 expansion could be followed by track 2, which is needed to maintain the investment pipeline. The Secretary of State for Scotland mentioned track 2 to me last night. Unless we see progress towards CO₂ infrastructure throughout the regions, and in Scotland in particular, large employers such as our refineries will face an uncertain future and could find themselves in real difficulty participating in the low-carbon fuels market that will emerge around the world. Clarity is urgently needed for the expansion of the first two clusters and the development of track 2 clusters, not just in Scotland but in south Humber. This will enable developers to continue with their planned investment, securing jobs and economic growth where it is most needed. Can my colleagues on the Front Bench give some indication of when we will hear more about what will happen on track 2 clusters?

I am grateful for this opportunity to talk about carbon capture and storage; I came to it as Energy Minister. We do not fully appreciate the extent to which there are opportunities out there that have been untouched until now. We have an oil and gas industry in Scotland and in the north of England that provides great opportunities for jobs, not just here but around the world. Let us add to our investment by getting carbon capture, utilisation and storage up and running.