Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Friday 26th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in July 2009, Steve Holliday, the then chief executive of National Grid, said on the record that going underground was a “no-brainer”? It was reported widely in various newspapers, as was his saying that when National Grid is required to go underground, such as when going through an area of outstanding natural beauty, it just does it. This requires Government to be muscular with private organisations, and to insist that they use the technology that they can.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. I remind the hon. Lady that interventions should be brief.

[Mr Holden]

The hon. Lady makes an incredibly important point. As technology develops, it seems remarkable that we are not looking at going underground as a sensible solution. She is absolutely right that it can and does happen; I think that it is a question of making it happen.

The Government seem willing to ride roughshod over local considerations. I ask them to take a little step back and just try to take communities with them. We got the first, second, third, fourth and fifth-largest offshore wind farms in Europe delivered under the last Conservative Government. Obviously, infrastructure was required for those, but the Government have to take communities with them.

I want to be able to back new renewables. That is a sensible thing to do, particularly in the offshore wind sector. That is why we saw, under the last Government, renewable energy go from 7% to 50%. However, we cannot ride roughshod over local communities. I urge the Minister, as he takes this policy forward, to consider the impact across the country.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Polly Billington to make her maiden speech.

[Ms Polly Billington (East Thanet) (Lab)]

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your elevation. It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden) —a constituency much closer to mine than the one that he represented previously.

First, of course, it is right to pay tribute to the fortitude and resilience displayed by my immediate predecessor, Craig Mackinlay, who represented the old seat of South Thanet. He demonstrated extraordinary strength of character when faced with life-changing injuries as a result of sepsis. His return to this House, when Mr Speaker permitted Members to applaud, was unforgettable. I know that he will use his elevation to the other place to promote his various passions, now including better prosthetics for amputees. I wish him and his family well.

Craig was immediately preceded by my good friend Laura Sandys. Although Laura took her seat for the party now sitting on the Opposition Benches, she and I have worked together on a range of issues, not least the importance of tackling climate change and the opportunities that a transition to clean and renewable energy offers in helping us to tackle social and economic injustice. If she were still in the House, she would have a lot to say in this debate. Before her, the South Thanet seat was Labour’s for 13 years. It was held by Dr Stephen Ladyman, a Minister of State in the last Labour Government who was able to effect real change for his constituency and beyond with his work as a Health Minister and also in the Department for Transport, where he secured the transformational high-speed rail service to Thanet. As a result, the three towns that now make up my constituency —Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate—became highly accessible to the rest of the country, and that accessibility is both a new thing and a constant characteristic of the story of this beautiful place.

Much is said in Thanet about DFLs—“down from Londons”, of whom I am unashamedly one—as though this were a new phenomenon, but it is a tradition that goes way back. New arrivals, mainly but not solely from the capital, have made their home in Thanet recently, as the pandemic has changed working patterns and the train link has made commuting more possible; but people have been coming down from London to enjoy the sea air, the sandy beaches and the stunning skies of Thanet for more than two centuries. J.M.W Turner started a trend that runs to this day.

Margate can argue that it is, in fact, the first seaside resort. Working-class Londoners took a sea packet down the river and stayed over in Margate, often only for a night, to fit in with the strict holiday limits before the trade unions secured a proper weekend for working people. In that tradition, I will be proud to vote for a better deal for workers when the time comes. Despite this strong working-class tradition, and the fact that Labour held its party conferences in the town after the second world war when Clement Attlee was our Prime Minister, the boundary changes mean that I am the first ever Labour MP for Margate.

From Chas and Dave to “Carry On”, Margate has been home—or escape—for some of England’s best entertainers. John Le Mesurier and Hattie Jacques lived there, and Eric Morecambe held his wedding reception in a pub in the old town. Margate is now the home of the world-famous Turner art gallery, which has driven the growth of a vibrant art scene, supported by Tracey Emin and involving the Margate art school and Open School East. Yet, as in so many places across the country, many people are locked out of access to the arts, either as makers or consumers. That is something that we can and must address as a Government, and as a community in East Thanet. My good friend the artist Bob and Roberta Smith, a resident of Ramsgate, campaigns tirelessly on that, and I welcome the Government’s approach to the school curriculum, which will mean that all children can experience art in all its forms.

Ramsgate is a town steeped in history, with the only royal harbour in the country, gracious houses built for naval officers in the Napoleonic wars, a rare Georgian church with a chapel dedicated to the heroes of the evacuation of Dunkirk, and Ramsgate tunnels, which were a place of refuge for hundreds of people during the second world war. Thanks to the Ramsgate Society and the town’s residents, there are blue plaques where van Gogh painted, where Wilkie Collins wrote and where Coleridge recuperated. It is also where the architect of this place, Augustus Pugin, built his home. This history deserves to be more widely known and celebrated, including the stories of ordinary people. Access to understanding the fullness of our past is crucial to shaping our future.

Ramsgate is also home to a publicly owned port, which hosts a range of companies and services, from the Border Force and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to the wind farms that generate enough electricity to power more than a quarter of a million homes—wind farms owned by another Government, however, not ours. I look forward to working with my right hon. Friends on the Treasury Bench to ensure that Great British Energy enables not only more energy to be generated, but jobs to be created and supply chains to be developed, in Thanet and in places like it where high-quality jobs are in short supply, and renewable energy sources—commonly known as sunshine and strong winds—are plentiful.

This amazing climate means that Broadstairs is synonymous with holidays for many, but the reality is that its economy, like that of the rest of the constituency, is affected profoundly by the sewage scandal. As one business owner explained to me, “No one wants to paddle through poo.” It is a priority for me and the Government to tackle the sewage scandal, which has not only environmental and health implications, but economic implications for East Thanet.

What Thanet needs more than anything is a year-round economy. That will require something that so many towns need—including that of my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato), as well as Beccles and the villages—and that is a coastal communities strategy that addresses the challenges faced by constituencies such as mine and makes the most of what these amazing places have to offer. For all of the ways in which Thanet is unique, my experience here and elsewhere in the country tells me that, as ever, we have more in common than that which divides us.

Thanet shares challenges with many other coastal communities: poor healthcare, creaking bus services, a housing crisis partly driven by unregulated, short-term holiday lets, shocking crime statistics, blighted high streets and few good job opportunities. It shares opportunities, too: renewable energy, heritage, stunning natural assets and the creativity and determination of the people who live in our coastal communities. Whether born here or drawn here, people value Thanet’s unique character—it is one of our unifying characteristics. Like many before me, I have chosen Thanet and I am honoured that it has chosen me. I felt able to ask the voters of East Thanet to have me as their MP because it is a place where I can walk safely and freely in town hand in hand with my wife. That is a precious and special thing.

Thank you, Thanet, for having me. I may not have the wit of Chas and Dave, the timing of Eric Morecambe or the vision of J. M. W. Turner, but I will serve you as best I can.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Pippa Heylings to make her maiden speech.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Madam Deputy Speaker, congratulations on your elevation.

Today, we stand on the brink of a new era for our country, with the recent announcement of an historic partnership between Great British Energy and the Crown Estate that will usher in billions of pounds of investment for clean power. This landmark collaboration will be a defining moment in this new Government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, highlighted by the introduction of the Great British Energy Bill to this House.

I share the concern of many in this Chamber that, for too long, families and businesses had to endure sky-high energy bills. That was due to mismanagement and exposure to volatile international markets. Great British Energy will be owned by British people and fortified with £8.3 billion of new investment. It is positioned to drive clean energy deployment across the United Kingdom, promoting job creation, energy independence and economic revitalisation. The formation of Great British Energy signifies a definitive break with the past, steering us towards our ambitious goal of clean power by 2030.

The Crown Estate, with its extensive £16 billion portfolio and newly enhanced investment capabilities, will synergise with Great British Energy’s strategic oversight. This will enable up to £60 billion in private investments and ensure that the benefits of our home-grown, secure energy will be felt across our nation, from urban areas to rural communities.

It is essential that we collaborate with the private sector, which will allow us to amplify our renewable energy capacity—to double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind—by 2030. This broad-based investment in renewable energy represents an investment in our future energy security and independence. This ambitious plan will not only produce cheaper power for our constituents, but ensure that profits are reinvested back into our communities.

The creation of Great British Energy marks a critical step towards generating clean energy, cutting energy bills and delivering good jobs, particularly at a time when our constituents are grappling with the consequences of previous Government failures, which led to an energy insecurity crisis.

I have served on the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee since its formation. I strongly believe that accelerating our investment in energy infrastructure is critical. Initiatives such as the green prosperity plan will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in clean industries by 2030. This plan is vital to securing British leadership in the global clean energy transition.

I am sure that my hon. Friend the Minister is proud that Great British Energy will be headquartered in Scotland, ensuring that every corner of our United Kingdom plays a critical role in this green revolution. Alongside the lifting of the onshore wind ban, approval of significant solar power projects, and the establishment of a mission control headed by Chris Stark, yesterday’s announcements underscore our Government’s commitment to securing Britain’s energy future. Furthermore, the Government’s plan to impose a windfall tax on the record profits of oil and gas companies will serve as a financial leveller. It will redistribute excess profits and ease the public burden.

The transition to renewable energy must be meticulously planned and executed. In this context, the burning of woody biomass for electricity presents substantial risks to our clean energy future. The Government need to reconsider subsidies for large biomass generators—such as Drax and Lynemouth power stations—which under current subsidy arrangements could significantly undermine our carbon reduction goals.

Investigations have revealed that Drax, the UK’s largest emitter of carbon, has been involved in practices that are environmentally unsustainable and counterproductive to our objectives. Extending the subsidies could result in an increase in carbon emissions and burden bill payers with higher costs. The Government must heed the advice of independent bodies, such as the Climate Change Committee and the National Audit Office, by ensuring that any future subsidies are conditional on sustainable practices. That will promote the use of local waste biomass over imported material.

Furthermore, an equitable transmission away from North sea oil and gas remains crucial. Despite 50 years of drilling, those resources are depleting and cannot meet UK demand. Increased domestic oil and gas production would not alleviate high energy bills or enhance energy security, as global market forces determine those prices. By ending new oil and gas licences and speeding up the adoption of renewable energy, we solidify our position as a world leader in climate action—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. I call Greg Smith.

--- Later in debate ---

[Greg Smith]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Certainly for heavier application vehicles, batteries just would not work. I saw a diagram at one of these companies that shows that if we were to try to make a 747 fly on batteries, the batteries would be bigger than the plane. Therefore, that is not a viable option going forward. Synthetic fuels are entirely man-made. There is no need to grow food to burn or recycle old chip fat, or for raw earth mineral mining for batteries; it is just clean synthetics. My ask to the Government, as they look to a clean energy future—that is the right ambition; where we disagree is on how we get there—is that they truly embrace synthetic fuels and make them mainstream. They need to be scaled, and in order to be scaled, manufacturers need confidence that the Government will permit that.

An important point to finish on is that the carbon at tailpipe when these fuels are burned is the same volume that is then recaptured to make the next lot of fuel. They are net zero. It is one volume of carbon in a perpetual circle. I congratulate the Minister on his appointment, and ask him to take the message back to the Department that we need to embrace synthetic fuels as part of the clean energy revolution that he claims at the Dispatch Box to want to see.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Torcuil Crichton to make his maiden speech.

[Torcuil Crichton (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (Lab)]

I congratulate you, Madam Deputy Speaker, on your appointment, and it is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith) and to hear so many other maiden speeches today. They make faraway places such as East Thanet and Lowestoft, with which in fact my constituency has old herring connections, seem closer to us. It has also been a pleasure to hear so many maiden speeches this week from my 35 fellow new Scottish Labour MPs. I realise that that number somewhat brackets the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Rutherglen (Michael Shanks), who blazed a trail for us. I am delighted to see him on the Front Bench, just as I am delighted to see my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West (Martin McCluskey) bar the doors so that everyone has to hear what I am about to inflict upon them.

With your indulgence, Madam Deputy Speaker, and my translation, I begin: Mar urram dhaibhsan a thànig romham agus iadsan chleachdas i as mo dhèidh, tha mi togail mu ghuth nam chànain fhèin airson Na h-Eileanan an Iar. In honour of those who became before me, and those who will surely use my native language after me, I raise my voice today for the people of the Western Isles.

The commonest question I am asked in this House, apart from how to pronounce the name of my constituency, is how I manage to travel from Westminster to the Western Isles. Of course, the easy answer is by Tardis, but the honest answer is that here we are a mere hop and a skip away from Glasgow, and then I travel by a small jet—on schedule, hopefully—to Stornoway. As I board that small, tubular jet, I feel almost like a character in “Succession”, but I know that there is gold at the end of the flight.

Of course, we are connected; we are not in the middle of nowhere but at the heart of the Atlantic. We have the wealth of wind that will deliver the benefit of jobs, growth and energy security for this country in years to come. Those Atlantic islands and the western seaboard are what will give GB Energy meaning and reality in that transition from east to west, away from the North sea and away from the myth that we will not be there in another two generations. Two generations of my constituents have earned energy security for this country from the North sea, and two generations more will continue as we make that just transition to renewables.

That will be done with the heft of two Governments—the UK Government and the Scottish Government—and will require the muscle, investment and expertise of commercial developers. Vitally, it must involve the consent, involvement and power of communities. Just as the Labour Government of ’97 established, from the pre-devolution Scotland Office, a community land unit enabling communities to have the means and wherewithal to take over their own land, setting in chain the land reform revolution in the highlands and islands, I am encouraged that this Labour Government are open to ideas such as a community energy unit, to enable communities such as mine to take their stake in that wealth of wind, and create a template that can be used across the whole of Britain. These are themes to which I will return, alongside the unfinished business of land reform—I read today that a highland estate is for sale at £12 million, with carbon capture and the Ponzi scheme of peat restoration attached, and I know that that is unfinished business.

Of course, wild weather and radical land politics are not the only things that the Western Isles have to offer the United Kingdom. There are deep connections to the country and to this place itself. The tide of the Thames that rises and falls outside, marked by Mary Branson’s “New Dawn” high up there in St Stephen’s Hall, is the same tide that covers and uncovers “Sheol an Iolaire”, a tidal installation that I installed in Stornoway harbour, along with my good friend Malcolm MacLean, to mark a wartime tragedy and the loss of a ship of that name.

That same tide that sweeps into the Viking bay of Stornoway also laps Tarbert in Harris, Lochmaddy, North Uist, Lochsboisdale and Castlebay in Barra. That Hebridean archipelago of nine—or is it 10— islands guards our western approaches. Were they to be transposed on to a map of mainland Britain, they would run from London to Sheffield in length—with better scenery, of course. That is why I am reluctant to enter the traditional rivalry between maiden speakers of declaring their constituency the most beautiful in the country: when they come, they will see that there is no competition.

I do not intend to give a Cook’s tour of my constituency, but Barra, the jewel of the Hebrides, is where Angus MacNeil, the former MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, resides: fior Ghaidheal—a true Gael—and a generously spirited man, whose chairmanship of many Committees in this House was testimony not just to his political acumen, but to his ability to befriend people across the Chamber. That is one characteristic of my predecessor that I hope to emulate.

I will not take the House around the whole of the Western Isles, because time is short, but there are some other political monuments that deserve mention. I have no fewer than four former Labour MPs in my constituency on whom to lean for advice: Dame Anne McGuire, the queen of Stirling; Ian Davidson, the former Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee, who is still campaigning for Labour; Calum MacDonald, the former Labour MP for the Western Isles and our community wind farm expert; and, foremost among them, Brian Wilson, a former Energy Minister, whose counsel I commend to those on the Front Bench, and who has been a guiding light for me since he hired me at the West Highland Free Press as a journalist many years ago.

In passing, I cannot but pay tribute to those above us. I do not mean the angels; I mean the devils in the Press Gallery, among whom I danced for many years as a journalist for the Daily Record and The Glasgow Herald and as a freelance broadcaster for the BBC. Of course, it is Friday and nearly lunchtime, so they are not there. When I was in the Lobby, it was always nearly Friday, and always nearly lunchtime.

In a double transfer deal, which performed that rare feat of uniting the Westminster Lobby and Downing Street, I am joined on these green Benches by my hon. Friend the new Member for Rochdale (Paul Waugh), who was my Lobby roommate upstairs and will now join me here. On the old maps, my constituency might have been marked “Here be dragons.” My hon. Friend the Member for Rochdale slayed one to get here.

I will not detain the House with descriptions of whisky, salmon, scallops that reach Singapore in 24 hours, Harris tweed or beautiful bays, but I remind the Minister that the people of the Western Isles have the tenacity, the wherewithal and the resourcefulness, embodied in the Arnish yard near Stornoway, to act as a stepping stone in the journey to renewables and to clean energy.

It has been a long road from there to here. Many people have helped, and since I have arrived I have had many messages of support, and prayers and passages too. As I come from one of the most religiously observant parts of Britain, that comes as no surprise. One passage, from an old friend, has stayed with me. To save the Hansard reporters, who are probably struggling with the accent, never mind the translation, I will do the task for them. She said: “May your conversation always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to deal with anyone”—biodh ur comhraidh an-comhnaidh grasmhor, air a dheaneamh blasta le salainn.

Seasoned with salt, Madam Deputy Speaker. I like that. I hope that all our exchanges in this House will be gracious and seasoned with the salt air of the Atlantic and our common future, because in this Chamber and in this kingdom, we are all islanders.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Adrian Ramsay to make his maiden speech.

[Adrian Ramsay (Waveney Valley) (Green)]

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your new role.

I am honoured to follow the maiden speeches of other Members, including my constituency neighbour the hon. Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato), with whom I look forward to working, and the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Torcuil Crichton), whose speech I enjoyed very much, particularly his closing remarks about delivering our speeches with some salt and showing a gracious approach to engaging with one another in this House. Many hon. Members, particularly new Members, have talked about the opportunity to set a new tone in our politics in this Parliament, one of working constructively and showing a respectful approach to how we work together. I thank the hon. Member for setting that out.

I am grateful for this opportunity to make my maiden speech as a new MP, one of a group of newly elected Green MPs, and as the MP for a brand-new constituency, the beautiful Waveney Valley on the Norfolk-Suffolk border. As it is a new and additional seat, I do not have a direct predecessor to pay tribute to, but I will briefly thank all five of the previous MPs whose seats I have taken part of, for their work in representing the residents whom I now have the honour to represent. I thank Richard Bacon, Dan Poulter, Jo Churchill, Peter Aldous and Thérèse Coffey for their work as MPs.

I am proud to be in this place today to represent Waveney Valley, which has been created as an additional seat in the east of England. As a native East Anglian, it is an honour to be able to represent such a wonderful constituency spanning such beautiful parts of Norfolk and Suffolk. I hope that other hon. Members, who are no doubt equally proud of their constituencies, will indulge me for a few moments as I try to give them a sense to what it means to me. From its vibrant market towns with lots of independent businesses on the high streets to the beautiful natural environment of East Anglia, with the Waveney and several other rivers running through it, Waveney Valley is a fine example of picturesque and historic East Anglia. The ancient market town of Diss is mentioned in the Domesday Book; Bungay has a Norman castle; the towns of Eye and Halesworth date back to Roman times; and Harleston dates back to the medieval period.

Creating a constituency that spans the county border of Norfolk and Suffolk was considered controversial by some, but personally I think it is an exciting opportunity to embrace cross-county working, and much of the constituency reflects a natural community around the Waveney. That said, there is one contentious question that some people put to me: which football team do I support? I am proud to be a lifelong Norwich City fan, but in football as in politics, I am not tribal, and I warmly congratulated Ipswich Town on their recent promotion to the premier league for the first time since 2002. It is a great thing for East Anglia, and I very much look forward to celebrating having two premier league men’s football teams in East Anglia this time next year.

What really makes Waveney Valley special is its people —people who care about their community; who, like me, have a strong sense of local identity; and who demonstrate great ingenuity and care for their communities. I could cite many examples of that ingenuity, whether from farming, the third sector or local businesses, but to give just one example, the indoor marketplace in Diss opened last year in a former department store. It is a community initiative, giving local traders affordable small spaces to sell their crafts and goods in a shared space—a lovely boost for the local economy in a building that would otherwise have sat empty. What a great example of regenerating the high street.

People in Waveney Valley are rightly proud of our market towns and villages, but they also feel let down by the loss of local services and the degradation of our environment in recent years and decades, which has particularly affected our rural communities. As has been noted this week, we have

“the Sahara of dental deserts.”—[Official Report, 23 July 2024; Vol. 752, c. 506.]

One of my constituents told me that they make a four-hour round trip to access a dentist. Over a quarter of the residents I surveyed over the winter said that they are going without dental treatment, and like the hon. Member for Lowestoft—from whom we heard earlier— I have had examples in Suffolk of people telling me they have resorted to pulling out their own teeth. This cannot go on, and I welcome the new Government’s commitment to reform the dental contract, which is the root cause of this issue and of the exodus of dentists from the NHS. I hope to hear a timetable for that plan as soon as possible.

We have also seen a decline in other health services in my rural constituency. People find it hard to get access to a GP appointment in many areas; we have had local hospitals close in market towns; and we also have rural isolation, with so many bus services axed or cut back, particularly in villages.

At the same time, we have the scandal of sewage in our rivers, which the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Pippa Heylings) spoke about so eloquently, and which I know so many Members across the House feel extremely strongly about. People are horrified by this threat to people’s health and to wildlife, and they rightly see it as a sign of wider environmental neglect. I very much hope that the restoration of nature and tackling the sewage scandal are made top priorities by this Government. Whether it is on the growing use of food banks, people suffering from flooding or the decline in our services, I want to see real action that genuinely accounts for the needs of our rural communities.

Because of their anger about the loss of local services and the decline in our environment, people in my area were determined to vote for a change at this election. They are used to having Green councillors standing up to represent them, and they voted for an MP to stand up for their area. I will press for the restoration of local services and the defending of the local environment.

It is my intention to serve the people of Waveney Valley by seeking to bring people and places together. I will work across political and constituency lines to get things done, scrutinise and constructively challenge the Government, and work to improve the lives of my constituents. As many other hon. Members have said, we have an opportunity with this new Parliament to put our politics on a more mature and civilised footing and move beyond tribal approaches, and I am confident that that is what the public expect of us. I have had thousands of conversations with local residents over the past few years, and I know that they want an active and visible local MP. I am determined to fulfil that role—to be Waveney Valley’s voice in Westminster and not Westminster’s voice in Waveney Valley.

I would like to set out how I am approaching an issue in East Anglia that has attracted a lot of interest from some right hon. Members and the media. I have been a climate campaigner for 25 years—that has been my primary passion since I was a teenager—and making a difference on climate and the environment has guided everything that I have done in my career, including spending the last decade leading national charities whose purpose is to support the renewable energy sector. I am the first to argue that we need to scale up all types of renewable energy, and there was much in the Minister’s speech to welcome.

If we are to scale up renewable energy at the pace required to tackle the climate emergency, we need to take communities with us and make infrastructure decisions that are right for the long term. What I have called for in relation to the infrastructure proposals that are currently on the table for East Anglia is a proper options assessment of the different ways in which the energy generated by new wind farms in East Anglia is connected to the grid. Today I have heard two hon. Members from two different political parties from mine refer to the fact that there are different ways in which we can connect that renewable energy to the grid. I think that simply calling for an options assessment is a very reasonable approach. I am also calling on the Government and the planning process to account for the points raised by wildlife trusts, local councils and communities about the impacts of the current infrastructure proposals.

The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero has set out that there is a planning process to be followed, which the Government should not prejudge, and the Prime Minister has said that he wants to reset the tone on the political debate—something I very much welcome. In that spirit, I ask that we move beyond some of the comments that have been made in this Chamber on the particular infrastructure proposal that I have referred to; that the Government commit to working with communities to ensure that infrastructure decisions are made in a way that properly accounts for the issues raised by wildlife organisations and local communities, and genuinely look at the options that different Members are highlighting; and that if a version of the current proposal does go ahead, the mitigations proposed by organisations such as Mid Suffolk and Babergh district councils, and the wildlife trusts, are properly taken on board and full compensation is put in place that accounts for the impact on farmers’ livelihoods and on others affected.

On the wider subject of today’s debate, I welcome the creation of Great British Energy and much of what the Minister shared in terms of scaling up renewable energy. I politely point out, though, that to get to net zero we have to move away from fossil fuels as well as increasing renewable energy. To that end, I would ask the Government to place a strong emphasis on energy efficiency measures. The Minister referred to home insulation, but what I have heard so far will only scratch the surface of the home insulation measures needed to keep bills down and homes warm.

I also urge the Government to reconsider the Rosebank oilfield, which will have carbon emissions equivalent to 28 low-income countries, and to ensure that carbon capture and storage projects are never allowed to be an excuse for millions of tonnes of carbon pollution.

I have two other points on climate. First, with significant climate change already happening around us, or already locked in as a result of emissions to date, far more public policy attention needs to be given to how we adapt to a changing climate, as well as to mitigating the worst excesses of climate breakdown. We need to look at those things together, and I look forward to returning to this issue on another date.

Secondly, the decline of climate and nature must be seen as equal and twin problems. I stand ready to work with those from across the House to shift the UK from being one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries to getting on track to meet environmental targets, including on nature recovery.

It is an honour to be here to represent the people of Waveney Valley. I have set out my guiding principles as a Member of this House, which are to stand up for our rural communities, for the restoration of public service and for the most vulnerable in our society, and to press for the urgent action needed on the twin climate and nature emergencies. I will play a constructive role in this House by supporting the Government and working with other parties where I agree with them, and in pressing the Government to be bolder on restoring nature, responding to the climate emergency and rebuilding our public services. And I will always speak up for the people of Waveney Valley.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Dr Zubir Ahmed to make his maiden speech.

[Dr Zubir Ahmed (Glasgow South West) (Lab)]

I congratulate you on your election, Madam Deputy Speaker.

I congratulate hon. Members on discharging their responsibilities and delivering their maiden speeches, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Torcuil Crichton)—I am sure he will correct my pronunciation and give me some honest feedback. I also welcome the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen (Michael Shanks), to the Front Bench. It is timely that I am making my maiden speech on a day when we are discussing how Scotland might shape the energy needs of these islands for many decades to come.

I thank and pay tribute to my predecessor, Chris Stephens, for his dedicated service to our community over the last nine years. His commitment to social justice and workers’ rights is inspirational and will leave a lasting impact. I am particularly thankful for his advice and counsel during the handover process that is currently taking place.

Glasgow South West is a synthesis of many different communities, each with recurring contributions to the 850-year-old second city of empire. If you will allow me, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will give the House a short synopsis of the place where I live, work and play.

We start in Darnley, Deaconsbank and Pollok, much of it occupying the old Pollok estate, the laird of which —Sir John Stirling-Maxwell—was a Member of this place and founded the National Trust for Scotland in 1931. In more recent times, these areas have demonstrated the transformative possibilities of their co-operative spirit through the Rosehill housing co-operative and the Pollok credit union.

Moving north, the ruins of Crookston castle come into view. Built by the Stewarts of Darnley in the 1400s, it is the only medieval castle standing in Glasgow, and it is possibly where Mary, Queen of Scots, was betrothed to Lord Darnley. It remains an underutilised community asset, but I commend the friends of Crookston castle for their efforts to bring this space back into the service of the people of Glasgow.

A short distance from the castle, the wonderful communities of Mosspark, Dumbreck and Cardonald are nestled around the great expanse of Bellahouston Park, which has played host to numerous music concerts, papal visits and the empire exhibition of 1938.

As we head further north, we come to Ibrox, which is synonymous with Rangers football club. Now, I must stress, Madam Deputy Speaker, that other Glasgow football clubs are available; my hon. Friends the Members for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) and for Glasgow East (John Grady) can take you for a tour around them. Govan is the birthplace of Sir Alex Ferguson, a footballing legend, but also a friend to Members on the Labour Benches; he has often given wise counsel to my party. It is also the location of the Queen Elizabeth university hospital, formerly known as the Southern General, one of Britain’s largest hospitals and the place where I honed my skills in surgery and practice as a transplant surgeon. My research leads me to conclude that I am the first transplant surgeon to be elected to this place.

Govan’s shipyard history is, of course, world famous, and the Fairfield Heritage Trust and Govan Workspace have brought that to life. More importantly, it continues to serve the defence of our realm even in the modern day, and to be part of Glasgow South West’s story; we have BAE Systems and Thales, alongside fintech and medtech companies such as Barclays and Cohesion Medical, as well as award-winning TV and film companies such as Firecrest Films. We can see the kind of high-quality jobs of the future that can be available to local people. These are the kinds of jobs I want to grow as part of this Labour Government.

As we head towards the edge of the constituency, we find the BBC Scotland headquarters. The BBC has an important function in the fabric of our national life, not only in informing, educating and entertaining, but as a beacon of our soft power on the world stage—something I wholeheartedly support. Just as national broadcasting is important, so is the local, and nothing encapsulates that better in Glasgow South West than Sunny Govan radio station. It provides an eclectic mix of music, but also, more importantly, runs sobering stories and is a source of comfort on some of the challenges in our community.

We end our Glasgow South West journey in Pollokshields, an area my hon. Friend the Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner) knows well. It is a true melting pot of cultures and ideas, and the place where my father’s one-month road journey from Pakistan ended in April 1963. He would go on to drive buses in the city, and then black cabs—he is in his 80s and he still does.

In the undergrowth of this rich history and potential, however, there are some worrying signals. There is the weariness of working ever faster and longer just to stay still, the anxiety of wondering how secure that work is, and the trepidation at the end of a day of work that you may not be able to pay for the odd treat that makes life worthwhile, or even the essentials. It is against that backdrop that we on the Labour Benches were sent to this place to make the economy work for working people, and to restore the intergenerational covenant —the promise that the lives of the generations after us will be better in every sense than our own. Politics for me is not, therefore, about the indulgent combative tweet, or even the theatrical amendment. It is the about seeing the world through the long lens. It is about having the stamina for diligent analysis, the patience to articulate policy and then, when in power, the discipline to deliver enduring change. That has always been the Labour way.

Every Member elected to this place recognises electoin for the singular honour that it truly is, but it also takes a village to be elected to this place. That includes, of course, the tireless staff and activists who are in many ways the DNA of our democracy, but there are also, for all of us, those who shaped our life and now shape our politics. When I reflect back, I think of my parents and my extended family, who, from a cradle in a Govanhill tenement, instilled in me the raw ingredients to do my utmost in every walk of life. I think, too, of my teachers and my mentors, who moulded those ingredients into the art and craft of a widely practised surgical career, and of my wife and children, who keep me connected to the earth and in contact with reality, particularly when it is much needed.

Out of all those people, I think of my maternal aunt, Matloob Mohammad, who stands out. She had no children of her own and considered us her children. Like too many in our Labour family, she was taken by glioblastoma—as was my father-in-law, Tony—in 1997. Her patient journey through our NHS inspired me to become a doctor and then a surgeon. She also, in many ways, inspired my political journey. She quite inadvertently introduced me to this place 29 years ago. After queuing outside, we found ourselves in the Strangers’ Gallery watching a combative Leader of the Opposition by the name of Tony Blair taking on the then Prime Minister. If she were here today in that Gallery, she could not fail to notice the changes in the make-up of this Parliament reflected back up at her.

We have our challenges in modern Britain, but it is important to be unashamedly proud of the fact that we are demonstrably the most successfully ethno-religiously diverse legislature in the world. In these volatile times, I believe the world looks to us in this place, the mother of Parliaments, for guidance, and for the solace that democracy can still deliver. I am confident that it will.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Sarah Bool to make her maiden speech.

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[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Alan Gemmell to make his maiden speech.

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[Harriet Cross]

I absolutely agree. It is so important for all those reasons—for jobs and future tax revenues—that we retain our domestic supply of oil and gas. Alongside the leader of the GMB calling the Government’s plans “self-defeating”, the former leader of Aberdeen council quit Labour last year, saying its plans were a “brutal attack” on the sector. Again, I agree.

Just as Rome was not built in a day, the experience and expertise of the oil and gas sector—the energy sector—did not develop in a day. However, the vital skills and investment that we will rely on to deliver the transition to cleaner, greener energy will be lost in no time at all if the Government do not listen, appreciate them and act to protect them. The warning signs are there, and we must not ignore them. Without the existing workforce, the energy transition will take longer, be more expensive, and be less efficient—truly an unwanted trilogy for any Government.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call David Baines to make his maiden speech.

[David Baines (St Helens North) (Lab)]

I am delighted to be able to make my maiden speech as the Member of Parliament for St Helens North during this important debate. Before my election to this place, I was the leader of St Helens borough council and the Liverpool city region lead member for net zero, so this debate is on a subject that I care deeply about, and one that I hope to contribute to in the years ahead. If the House will indulge me briefly, we are at the end of the school year in England, so speaking also as a former teacher, I put on record my thanks and respect for teachers, teaching assistants and all school staff. I know the challenges they have to overcome, how hard they have to work, and the difference they make as a result. I hope that they all have a very well-earned break in the coming weeks and that, if they are not already by a pool, they are very soon.

I congratulate all new Members who have made their first contributions in this place so far. The previous maiden speech was made by my hon. Friend the Member for Central Ayrshire (Alan Gemmell); with his constituency’s connection to Elvis and his own piano lessons, I hope he will be joining the new parliamentary rock band, which I know my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger) is keen to get set up. If they need a roadie, I am available. All the maiden speeches so far have set a very high bar, and it is great to be a Member of a Parliament that looks and sounds like the country that we represent. It is diverse, and it is strong as a result. I also thank all parliamentary staff who have worked so hard in recent weeks, helping me and all of us to find our way around.

I pay tribute to my predecessor, Conor McGinn. He served St Helens North and the country with dedication, helping to secure significant funding for our town centres and delivering Helen’s law and equal marriage in Northern Ireland. There are many people on both sides of the House who worked with him and will miss seeing him around the place, and I know they will join me in wishing him, his wife Kate, and their children the very best.

It is the honour of my working life to be elected to serve St Helens North as its Member of Parliament. I grew up in the constituency, in the former mining village of Haydock—a person from Haydock is known locally as a Yicker, and I am fairly certain that I am the first Yicker elected to this place. I grew up there in the 1980s, raised by my mum and dad, who themselves grew up in Blackbrook and Parr. Growing up at that time in St Helens, I could not help but be aware of politics. Decisions taken in this place by the then Conservative Government deeply affected my community and the people in it, and not for the better. I had to wait until I was 17 to experience a Government who demonstrated that they cared about communities like mine and people like me.

My own children are now 11 and seven, and as their dad I am relieved for them that they will grow up under a Labour Government who are passionate about improving life for them and their generation, creating opportunities, and rebuilding Britain brick by brick. I thank the voters of St Helens North for giving me the opportunity to serve, to be part of that change, and hopefully to prove that government and politics can be a force for good. I owe a huge amount of thanks to my family, especially my mum and dad, and above all my wife Helen and my two children. Members in all parts of the House will know that you cannot do this job and do it well without the support of your family, and that is certainly true in my case.

My home of St Helens North is made up of historic, distinctive villages around and including the towns of St Helens and Newton-le-Willows. The industrial revolution and all the advances made by our country in the 1800s and beyond simply would not have happened without the toil and ingenuity of working people in the communities that I am now proud to represent. From the railways to chemicals and canals, from coal to glass and farming, it was the people of my constituency and many other similar areas across the north of England who built and shaped the 20th century.

My constituency and the wider borough of St Helens are now home to thousands of businesses, from multinational brands to innovative and hard-working small and medium-sized companies. We are also home to Parkside in Newton-le-Willows, a former colliery site that—thanks to the hard work of previous MPs, the Labour council, our partner Langtree, and the city region—is now being regenerated and developed into one of the most significant employment and investment sites in the north-west of England, with huge potential for rail freight and advanced manufacturing. We need to make sure that young people have the skills and opportunities to access the jobs that this development and others will create in the years to come. This week’s announcements about Skills England are therefore extremely welcome.

My constituency is also a hotbed of sport. Boxing, darts and numerous amateur clubs thrive in St Helens North. We are home to Haydock Park racecourse, the world’s oldest open rugby club at Liverpool St Helens, which was founded in 1857, fantastic cricket and football clubs, and St Helens rugby league club—three-time rugby league world champions. Although the ground is technically in St Helens South and Whiston, it does live in the hearts and souls of many people in St Helens North, including mine.

We are also home to a magnificent and hard-working charity and voluntary sector. Our churches and community groups work all year round to support the most vulnerable, and this, to me, is what lies at the heart of what I love most about my home and the people I share it with. I had the responsibility of leading the local council through the pandemic, working hand in hand with many fantastic local organisations, as well as public and private sector partners. The kindness and strength that my community showed during those times was overwhelming, as it was, I know, in most of the country. At the start of the pandemic, we set up a campaign called St Helens Together to co-ordinate support, and I am proud to say that that ethos is still with us, as we work to collaborate on tackling the challenges we face. In my role as MP, I am excited to continue supporting that work and the many fantastic people and organisations involved.

Once proudly Lancastrian, and to many of us still exactly that, my constituency, and the wider borough, is now also a leading member of the Liverpool city region, working to deliver the jobs, transport, skills and clean energy that St Helens North and the region needs—which brings me to the subject of this morning’s debate. As I mentioned at the start of my remarks, I was the Liverpool city region lead for net zero before my election to this place, and I had the privilege of being involved in projects such as HyNet, and Mersey Tidal, which has the potential to power 1 million homes and create thousands of high-skilled jobs, and in St Helens we are delivering Glass Futures, which is a world-leading project that will decarbonise the global glass industry—no small boast.

Our metro mayor, Steve Rotheram, and local leaders, including our new St Helens Borough Council leader, Anthony Burns, are ambitious for what we can achieve. Just as we led the world in the first industrial revolution, so we can lead it in the green industrial revolution. The threat of climate change is real, and it is urgent, but the mission to tackle it and the journey to net zero, if done in the right way, can also be an opportunity for new jobs, new investment, new skills and new opportunities for workers and for businesses—growing our local and regional economy and at the same time protecting our energy security in a volatile world. Great British Energy is just one vital and exciting part of Labour’s broader agenda for government, and it is why I was proud to vote for the measures in the King’s Speech.

Since those votes earlier this week, there has rightly been a lot of attention on child poverty, and, as someone who has been concerned about this for almost all my working life, and who has tried to raise the issue for years, I am delighted that it is finally being talked about. The previous Labour Government lifted children out of poverty, and I have no doubt that this Government will too. But, if we are going to lift children and their families out of poverty, it has to be a whole-Government approach. Everything is connected to everything else.

We need the child poverty strategy, and action to follow it urgently, but we also need economic stability and a strong focus on inclusive growth. We need Great British Energy and affordable energy. We need new social and genuinely affordable homes. We need new jobs and the new deal for working people. We need investment in our town centres and high streets, investment in public services and the staff who provide them, and high aspirations for every single child, starting with a properly funded, properly resourced, broad education. Those are the manifesto commitments I supported this week.

It will not surprise anyone to hear that, as a former teacher, I am a firm believer that there is no greater tool for social mobility or personal fulfilment than education, and I am evidence of it. I was a shy and quiet working-class kid at school, and it was not until I went to sixth-form college, and particularly university, that I eventually gained the confidence to believe in myself and stand up in front of others and speak—and I would never have dreamed that I would be doing it here in this place.

I would not be here today if it had not been for that experience of higher education, and I think we should resist at all costs any of the growing arguments that some degrees and time spent learning are worthless, or that too many young people are doing degrees. What I suspect some of those behind such claims mean is, “too many of the wrong people”. Well, if it is good enough for the children of the wealthy, it is good enough for working-class kids like me and those to come.

All children deserve those opportunities, including those with special educational needs. There is a crisis right now in the system, which is leaving too many children and their families waiting far too long for assessment, and then, when they are assessed, they too often do not get the support they need, despite the best efforts of their schools and school staff. Whether they are children in mainstream education with dyslexia or autism, or children in special schools with more complex needs, every child deserves to be able to access a full and vibrant curriculum with adequate support and adjustments to help them achieve their best. The parents of these children are every bit as ambitious for them as any other parent, just as parents of state-school pupils are equally ambitious as those who can afford private schools. All they ask, like any parent or any child, is for a fair chance.

I am encouraged to hear our new Government talking about these issues already, and about the challenges that our schools, pupils and their families face. I intend to do all I can to help deliver the change that they, and we, all need. If young people are to access the jobs of today and tomorrow—in AI and life sciences, clean energy and more—we must be focused on opening every possible door, not closing them.

In conclusion, we have been sent to this place with a mandate to change the country and to change lives for the better. There is a huge amount to do, but Labour’s plans for the country are ambitious and, most importantly, deliverable. For as long as I am in this place, I will do all I can to help give all our children and young people the tools and opportunity to reach their potential, and to ensure that the benefits of the change we will bring are felt by people in St Helens North, as well as the country as a whole.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Alison Bennett to make her maiden speech.

[Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your appointment to your new role. I congratulate the hon. Member for St Helens North (David Baines) on his maiden speech and election to Parliament. He is right to remind us all about the role of aspiration and all children seeking to do their best. I must pay tribute to my parents: to my father for sparking my interest in politics, and my mother for telling me, when I was 17, “If you don’t try, you’ll never know what you can do.”

It is truly the honour of my life to take my seat in this place. I am the fourth person to serve Mid Sussex since the constituency was created in 1974. I thank my predecessor, now the hon. Member for East Grinstead and Uckfield (Mims Davies), who has already given her time and support in relation to urgent issues affecting children in both our constituencies. It would be amiss not to acknowledge the noble Lord Soames in another place, who is held in high regard by the good people of Mid Sussex.

Due to the vagaries of boundary changes, I had to go back some 50 years to the maiden speech given by the late Baron Renton to find the original and only maiden speech made by a Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex. On reading that 1974 maiden speech, I briefly considered a simple copy-and-paste job, such is the relevance of his speech echoing through the decades to the moment we find ourselves in today. He raised concerns about the expansion of Gatwick airport, about housing growth without vital infrastructure, and about doctors and teachers not being able to afford a house. All those things are important to people in my constituency, as well as to the Liberal Democrats.

Of special note was Baron Renton’s call for more generous attendance and disability allowances, so that people can be properly cared for by loved ones in their own home. The importance of having a care system that truly works and genuinely supports carers is critical to ensuring that we live in a civilised society, where regardless of someone’s life stage and their physical or mental health, they can live the best life possible and achieve their potential. We must care about care. We must make that a priority of this new Parliament.

In the most recent boundary changes, a significant proportion of Mid Sussex, and the area that is my home, was formally part of the Arundel and South Downs constituency. I thank the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith) for his courteous and prompt handover of casework. I probably owe a bigger debt of gratitude to his predecessor, Lord Herbert of South Downs. The noble Lord might not realise it, but he played a hand in lighting the touchpaper on my political journey that has led me to be here today. During the EU referendum campaign, the noble Lord was chairman of Conservatives for Reform in Europe. He kindly agreed to come to my village one afternoon to join a cross-party stall for remain that I was organising. It might be said that he inspired me. As a Liberal Democrat, I will always advocate closer ties with our European allies and neighbours. We believe that, in a world this unstable and dangerous, we are stronger when we turn to face our closest friends and neighbours. Co-operation, not antagonism, is the best way of tackling the challenges that our planet faces.

What of Mid Sussex? I feel confident in asserting that I and all my predecessors agree that the stunning beauty of our corner of England is spectacular. With the High Weald area of outstanding natural beauty in the north, and the South Downs national park in the south, we are truly blessed. I have felt truly blessed to call Mid Sussex my home for the past 12 years, not only because of its beauty but because of its brilliant people. It is a place where extraordinary things can and do happen because people pull together and step up. If it is not extraordinary enough that Mid Sussex, which had a Conservative majority of 27,000 back in 2012, has just elected a Liberal Democrat, just this week former England player Gareth Barry signed for Hurstpierpoint football club—a village football team—and Nathan Hales is competing in the shooting at the Paris Olympics. We are all rooting for Nathan and the whole of Team GB.

However, it is about more than individual effort; it is about local collective determination. The village of Cuckfield has a proud identity, and it even made a unilateral declaration of independence in 1966 over the venue of the annual Donkey grand national. The Bentswood Hub in Haywards Heath helps people young and old with their mental health, bills and housing. The Burgess Hill Pantry is trying to find a way to break the cycle of food bank dependency. This weekend, local charity Kangaroos is celebrating 30 years of helping children with learning disabilities and their families.

There are also incredible groups working to tackle the climate crisis, which brings me to the subject of today’s debate. Fairer World Lindfield, Hurst Rethink, and Greener Hassocks and Ditchling are tireless advocates and campaigners for the idea of starting something to tackle the climate crisis rather than waiting for the Government to get on board. Greener Hassocks and Ditchling has put solar panels on the roof of Downlands community school in Hassocks. The Bolney wine estate has, in conjunction with the Brighton Energy Cooperative, put a solar array on the roofs of its winery, which now generates over 50% of the energy required to produce half a million bottles of wine.

However, local groups can only do so much; they need the Government to create an environment in which it is easy to make the energy transition. Speeding up grid connections, for example, can currently take up to three years. We need to make better use of space that has no other purpose—industrial rooftops or the sides of railway lines—including for solar arrays. The will is there in Mid Sussex and, I am sure, right across the country. We need to do more and we must make it easy. Our communities, our constituents, our children and as yet unborn generations demand nothing less.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call Kirsteen Sullivan to make her maiden speech.