UK Nuclear Energy Programme

Charles Hendry Excerpts

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

We are responsible, and we are sorting out the cartels that we inherited from the previous Government. The big six were created by the Labour party’s failed reforms of the electricity market, but because we have been deregulating and improving competition, the hon. Gentleman’s constituents have more choice. He does his constituents a disservice if he does not explain that they no longer have to stick slavishly to the big six, and that there are 15 independent suppliers. I thought he would want to help his constituents by recommending that they shop around.

[Charles Hendry (Wealden) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend and his colleagues and officials on this historic and incredibly important achievement. Taken together with the more than doubling of renewable electricity generation in this country since 2010 and the huge interest in developing carbon capture and storage, does this nuclear renaissance not show that the market reforms he has championed have been exactly what investors have required to invest in the plant that our long-term energy security requires?

[Mr Davey]

My hon. Friend is right to say that the market reforms that the coalition Government have championed are already bearing fruit. He points to the fact that renewable energy has doubled under this Government, and that we are seeing a push forward on carbon capture and storage and now nuclear. I must say, however, that he played an important role in all of that.