Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Chris McDonald and Christine Jardine(1 week, 5 days ago)
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Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Chris McDonald)
The transition to clean energy is the greatest opportunity we have for good job creation across the whole country, with 40,000 extra clean energy jobs in Scotland alone. That is why we published the clean energy jobs plan in October, which sets out how we will work in partnership with industry and trade unions to deliver these jobs.
Christine Jardine
I appreciate the Minister’s answer. Those 40,000 jobs are vital, but they are still outnumbered by the many thousands of jobs in the oil and gas sector. The rate of job losses there is accelerating, and people are increasingly going abroad, creating a concern that the skills necessary for the green transition will be lost. What will the Government do to create transitional training and job movement within those two sectors?
Chris McDonald
This Government recognise the importance of the North sea oil and gas industry, and the importance of oil and gas for decades to come, but we also recognise that the North sea is a declining basin. That is why we published our North sea plan, which supports the transition of workers in the North sea into clean energy jobs, and why we are investing in our clean industry bonus, which incentivises businesses that are investing in offshore wind to ensure that those offshore wind jobs are located here in the UK—a fundamental difference between this Labour Government and the previous Conservative Government, who were happy for those jobs to be based in other countries in Europe.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Chris McDonald and Christine Jardine(2 months ago)
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Victoria Collins (Harpenden and Berkhamsted) (LD)
Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Chris McDonald)
This Government recognise the importance of reducing energy costs to boost UK manufacturing competitiveness. Under the modern industrial strategy, the British industrial competitiveness scheme will reduce electricity costs by up to £40 per megawatt-hour for over 7,000 manufacturing businesses. We will also increase support for our most energy-intensive industries under the British industry supercharger, uplifting the network charging compensation scheme from 60% to 90%. These measures are supported by the connections accelerator service.
Chris McDonald
I acknowledge the work the hon. Member does in Parliament on energy-related issues and her Adjournment debate on high street businesses; that theme clearly runs through a lot of her work. She is right to point out the fundamental weakness we have that, when it comes to our investment in renewable energy, the price is ultimately set by gas. We want to address that through our clean power mission.
Christine Jardine
UKHospitality estimates that the industry contributes £8 billion a year to the Scottish economy. A major increase in standing charges would hit it hard. Many businesses in the sector are energy-hungry—for example, distilleries, pubs and restaurants—and across my constituency there is concern about the winter ahead. They want to know what this Government will do to protect them and ensure fairness for small businesses.
ExxonMobil: Mossmorran
Debate between Chris McDonald and Christine Jardine(2 months ago)
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Chris McDonald
As I set out in my statement, we have managed to attract £250 billion of investment. That investment is coming to the UK because we have policy certainty around industry through our industrial strategy, and it is delivering jobs across the whole of the country.
Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)
The Minister referred earlier to the jobs that are coming in the renewables industry. That will be no consolation tonight to the 400 families who do not have that future within their sight. He also rhymed off the Government’s policies for supporting energy-intensive industries, but those policies did not help Mossmorran—the company has cited the policy environment as a cause of its decision. Can the Minister please reassure the House that, before the Budget, the Energy Minister and his colleagues will impress upon the Chancellor the idea that perhaps new and more effective policies are needed to support energy-intensive businesses?
Chris McDonald
I am grateful to the hon. Member for her question, and particularly for reminding us all about those families. She is right that they are in an extremely difficult position, and while it is incumbent on me to point out some of the opportunities, I do not want to in any way diminish the real pain and distress that I know—I know personally—those families will be going through. I have strived to strike a balance on that, and I hope the hon. Member feels that I have managed to do so this evening.
The hon. Member mentioned, in particular, some of the policy situation relating to Mossmorran, and I refer her to the answer I gave a short while ago when talking about the impact of carbon taxes on Mossmorran arising directly as a result of the inefficiency of the plant. That is a consequence of previous decisions and a failure to invest in that plant. It ultimately means that the plant appears to be, in and of itself, not commercially viable. If companies that think they could make the plant commercially viable come forward, clearly we would want to work with such organisations.