Monday 20th September 2021

(2 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Kwasi Kwarteng Portrait Kwasi Kwarteng
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I spoke to the CEO of CF Fertilisers yesterday, and a number of hon. Members have raised that concern. We are trying to see how we can secure a constant supply of carbon dioxide.

Ben Lake Portrait Ben Lake (Ceredigion) (PC)
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The loss of the IFA interconnector last week saw the UK lose two fifths of its capacity to import electricity from Europe, further increasing our dependence on natural gas. What pressure are the Government bringing to bear on National Grid to speed up these repairs and to invest the 19% increase to its pre-tax profits to better secure the UK’s energy network?

Kwasi Kwarteng Portrait Kwasi Kwarteng
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The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that issue. Clearly, to have interconnectors fail in the way they did last week, in the midst of a global gas price spike, is very concerning. We are looking at what went wrong and seeing what we can do with National Grid to hold it to account and to make sure that the risk of this happening again is minimised.