Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage

Debate between Dave Doogan and Ed Miliband

Monday 7th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question and for her brilliant advocacy on this issue. She raises an important point, which is that people will look at this investment and think that it is a big investment, albeit over 25 years. Is it the right thing to do for the country? Emphatically, yes. It is right for our industries and for the industries of the future, because the transport and storage networks are absolutely crucial, not just for the specific projects I have announced but for future projects, for our security as a country and for jobs in our industrial heartland. I thank her for her advocacy and we will keep moving forward on this.

[Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State says he is absolutely committed to the Acorn project. Well, the way to show that would be to fund it, because yet again the UK Government have failed to announce funding for carbon capture utilisation and storage projects in Scotland. This is a disaster economically, industrially and environmentally. I am sure he will agree that without Acorn, the UK cannot meet its net zero targets and will miss them by some margin. The last Tory Government failed to back this project in Scotland for years, and despite offering change, Labour has done exactly the same thing, following the same path with broadly the same budget and prioritising less developed, less substantial and less deliverable projects in England while offering the Scottish cluster no funding at all to date. People in Scotland remember well how eager the Treasury and the Westminster Government were to get their hands on revenues from North sea oil and gas. When will we see that returned with investment from Westminster into the north-east of Scotland to support the Acorn project?

[Ed Miliband]

I am sorry about the hon. Gentleman’s tone, but it is entirely predictable. He knows that there have always been two tracks. This Government have moved at speed to fund track 1, and I have made absolutely clear our commitment to Acorn and track 2.

Contracts for Difference

Debate between Dave Doogan and Ed Miliband

Tuesday 3rd September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s question. We need to be honest about this: we face what we can only describe as a crisis with our grid situation, because we have people wanting to connect to cheap, clean renewables and being offered dates in the 2030s—often late in the 2030s. We have industrial investments that we need to happen, for which dates in the 2030s are offered. Grid reform and, as part of that, planning reform is absolutely crucial for this Government and for any Government who are serious about this. I am afraid to say that the legacy of the last Government is disastrous when it comes to the grid. We will build the grid, and I look forward to support from all parts of the House from those who want to tackle fuel poverty and want lower energy bills.

[Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)]

Fair play to the new Secretary of State: 5.3 GW of offshore wind is a great achievement, especially compared with the flat zero achieved by the Tories in auction round 5. It unlocks the vital Inch Cape array off my Angus constituency coast, and supports jobs in Montrose, as well as in Moray West, and there is also the game-changing Green Volt floating array off the north-east coast of Scotland. He highlights 1 GW of onshore wind, 8 MW of which is coming from England. Will he tell the House where the rest of that onshore energy is coming from? His target is 60 GW by 2030. How will he achieve that 9 GW a year from now until 2030?

[Ed Miliband]

I welcome the first part of the hon. Gentleman’s question, and even the second part. The only way this will work is if, whatever our differences—and we have large differences—we work on this task with every Government across the United Kingdom, whatever kind of Government that is. Gillian Martin, the Cabinet Secretary in Scotland, and I have had many conversations —probably more in a couple of months than were had in many years under the previous Government. That deliberate example of “country first, party second” has been set by the Prime Minister. We want to work with Governments across the UK to get the renewables revolution that we need if we are to make Britain a clean energy superpower.