Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 29th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I have mentioned the household support fund, which is also available for the most vulnerable. I do just have to say, to this line of questioning, that it is extraordinary that while this Government are spending so much energy and money trying to support consumers, we still have the SNP refusing to allow new renewables such as nuclear power.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

When will there be clarity for park home owners about exactly what they have to do to get what they have still to receive?

[Grant Shapps]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out the plight of park home owners, who are in a different position from others because of the lack of connection, sometimes, to the grid. We are working very hard to ensure that they get their payments as well, which will happen this winter. My right hon. Friend can be reassured that we are doing that, and currently working through local authorities to deliver it.

Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 25th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Dean Russell)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

News of my promotion to Secretary of State has been exaggerated, but as Minister I will do my best this afternoon. I pay tribute to—I will not say predecessor—the former Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg). Without his staunch and hard work, and his passion to help families and businesses across the country to survive the difficult winter that is coming, and ensure that the energy support would be there, a lot of families would be very worried this winter. I pay tribute to him for his work. It is honourable of him to be here during this speech.

On 31 January the Government announced plans to bring forward the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, which is the culmination of the Government’s work to untangle the United Kingdom from nearly 50 years of EU membership. Through the Bill we will create a more agile and innovative regulatory environment that would not have been possible were we still a member of the European Union. That will benefit people and businesses across the United Kingdom. The Government have achieved much since leaving the European Union and taking back control of money, borders, laws and our waters. We have created a world-leading covid vaccine programme, and signed 35 deals with 70 countries around the world. We accept that there is still more to do, and in January this year we set out our approach to becoming the best regulated economy in the world.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

How will the Minister answer the intemperate correspondence to which many of us have been subjected, announcing that the Bill will provide for the rape of the countryside and the destruction of wildlife? Will he be able to persuade people that this is a proportionate measure that will allow us to choose the regulations by which we wish to live, and judge them on their merits?

[Dean Russell]

I think that is the longest intervention I have ever heard my right hon. Friend make. He is absolutely right. The premise of the Bill is to ensure that we do what we have always done, which is to be the best place in the world to live, and that includes our environment. It is an absolute priority of this Government that the United Kingdom will be the best place to start and grow a business, to live, and to ensure that our environment around us is supported at all times. Within the Bill are powers that will allow us to make good on that promise.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 25th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dean Russell]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question and for meeting last week. The Horizon scandal was awful and I will gladly follow up with further meetings to discuss the matter further.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Will the Minister expedite the track 2 process for carbon capture, usage and storage?

[The Minister for Climate (Graham Stuart)]

Yes.

Shale Gas Extraction

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 22nd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

It is amusing to think that the economics of independence were all dependent upon oil and gas, and now they are not going to have any, which does not seem to me to be entirely consistent. Using our national resources is a sensible and wise policy, and that is what this Government are looking to do.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

There has been no moratorium on fracking for thermal energy and it has continued apace at many sites, but the science is the same, is it not?

Energy Update

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his engagement, as ever. Let me try to deal with each of his points in turn.

First, on the Russian decision to cut off—or, as they put it, repair—Nord Stream 1, it is worth reminding ourselves that we are not dependent on gas from Russia, as the hon. Gentleman knows. Last year less than 4% of our gas came from Russia, and this year there have been no deliveries of gas from Russia since March—50% of our gas is domestic, and 30% is from Norway. He is right that this has an impact on prices, however, and that is being discussed at the moment and I would expect to hear more from the new Prime Minister and her team in the coming days, as he well knows.

The hon. Gentleman asked about any future windfall tax. Again, I do not want to speculate on what might happen, but I will say what happened when Labour last proposed a windfall tax. The measure that we introduced—the energy profits levy—is projected to raise twice what Labour’s proposal for a similar move would have raised at the time, and it has led to greater support for the most vulnerable customers. Labour’s proposals would have raised about £600, but the Government’s proposals raised twice that amount—about £1,200 for the most vulnerable households—and, as I said in the statement, there will be more to come on this.

The hon. Gentleman asked a very reasonable question about decoupling the electricity price from the gas price. Of course, this is one of the measures being looked at in REMA, as he rightly pointed out, and it will also be something of active interest for the Government. He asked about onshore wind, and he will know that the local partnerships scheme announced in the British energy security strategy in April has exactly mapped out how we see the changes in the onshore wind regime in England. There is no change as yet in Government policy on fracking, but that will obviously be a matter for the soon-to-be new Prime Minister.

Overall, the Opposition seem to make three central points: the Government failed to invest in renewables; the Government failed to invest in nuclear; and the Government failed to invest in energy efficiency. They are wrong on all three. On renewables, under this Government we have quintupled the percentage of electricity generated from renewables, from 7% of our electricity mix when they were in power to 40% in 2021, which is a very strong achievement. On nuclear, the Labour party’s 1997 manifesto said there was

“no economic case for the building of any new nuclear power stations”

in Britain. Twenty-five years later, we have reversed that. We are building Hinkley Point C, and on Friday the Prime Minister was at Sizewell C announcing his support for that power station. On energy efficiency, we have actually increased the percentage of homes that reach the band C level of energy efficiency: we have trebled that from 14% of our homes in 2010 to a strong 46% today. When it comes to matters relating to energy—prices, taxation and energy security—this Government will take no lessons from the Opposition.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

The Minister said that the rise in price was a result of the attack on Ukraine. It is much more than that: it is a deliberate part of the attack on Ukraine. Is not the essential ingredient of any scheme that the Government bring forward that it encourages customers to reduce their consumption?

[Greg Hands]

My right hon. Friend of course makes a very strong point about Russia’s deliberate weaponisation of energy in this conflict, which we wholly deplore and our international partners also very strongly deplore. On our energy use, my job is to make sure that we have the energy supply that this country needs, and I am confident in our energy supply and the energy security measures we already have in place.

Russian Oil Import Ban

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

The position in respect of Gazprom is that the UK company is separate from the parent but, should anything happen to Gazprom, just as with any other supplier of energy, we will take the appropriate steps.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

When we sanction Russia, we also sanction ourselves. We need to be clear with the British people, do we not, that this is a sacrifice we are expecting them to make, when the Ukrainians are making so much greater sacrifice.

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. People in this country have an intuitive, heartfelt feeling for the people of Ukraine. People understand—I have seen it in my constituency at the weekend and I am sure he has seen it in his—and are willing to endure hardships in solidarity with the heroic efforts that the people of Ukraine are making. People understand that in this country, because we are a generous and giving country.

North Sea Oil and Gas

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 9th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I listen to the hon. Gentleman week in, week out, claiming that the UK Government, when it comes to energy, are doing down Scotland. The exact opposite is the truth. We are very supportive of Scottish nuclear, which he is opposed to. The Hunterston nuclear plant closed just a few weeks ago, which had provided, at low cost, zero-carbon energy to all of Scotland’s homes on an equivalent basis for 31 years. We heard not a peep out of him. We hear the Scottish First Minister recommending that particular fields not be given approval. How does that land among the 200,000 people in this country who are dependent on the oil and gas sector, of which about 40%—80,000 or so—are in Scotland, particularly north-east Scotland?

On CCUS, the hon. Gentleman knows that the Acorn cluster is the reserve cluster, and has significant UK Government support. I have met with Storegga and many other participants in recent weeks. The transition review is led by Ofgem and of course we will look at cost and affordability in relation to transition.

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman’s ideological opposition to nuclear, and now the increased opposition to oil and gas and the North sea transition, shows that the SNP is not fit to run an energy policy for Scotland, and the people of Scotland will be thankful that the matter is reserved.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Nothing could be more dangerous to our position as a secure destination for investment than the imposition of windfall taxes, could it?

[Greg Hands]

My right hon. Friend makes a strong point. Of course the line from the Treasury—speaking as a former Treasury Minister—is that all taxes are always under review, but I repeat the words of the Chancellor from Thursday, that a windfall tax is “superficially appealing” but probably counterproductive. He reminded us that oil and gas companies pay corporation at twice the rate of non-oil and gas companies, and that the sector has already paid some £33.7 billion in taxes since the year 2010.

Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I visited my hon. Friend’s constituency with her two or three weeks ago—in fact, it was my first ministerial visit under my new portfolio—and I was impressed by the commitment to hydrogen in the area and to our new approach to energy overall. The most important thing to understand about this Bill is that it enables future nuclear projects and a diversity of financing models, with greater access to private sector finance in particular, so that we are less dependent on overseas developers as we go forward. That is the most important thing to take away. I would of course be delighted to come back to Hartlepool to see what it has to offer in this policy space.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

When will I be able to get one of these little modular, Rolls-Royce reactors?

[Greg Hands]

I think my right hon. Friend is referring to small modular reactors, the technology behind which the Government have put their support. The ability to finance them will start to come in, and I would hope to speak further on that with my right hon. Friend.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 6th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Paul Scully]

I have continued to converse, whether in person or on social media, with some of the people leading the campaign in this area. As I have said before, a lot of the schemes we put in place have been reverse engineered so we can deliver them quickly, at pace and at scale. We have not been able to save every business and every job, but clearly, we will look to not only reopen and recover, so that we can bounce back better and protect as many jobs as we can, but create new jobs as well.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Is there anything that Ministers can do to ensure that small builders get access to building materials that are increasingly in short supply?

[Paul Scully]

There is a shortage of building materials due to global demand outstripping supply. We are working with the Construction Leadership Council’s product availability group to identify and resolve these challenges.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 25th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Paul Scully]

The Secretary of State and I believe that workers’ rights should be enhanced and protected, so we are absolutely committed to bringing forward an employment Bill that will help us to build back better and to protect vulnerable workers, delivering on our ambition to make the UK the best place in the world in which to work and grow a business. While we are waiting for the employment Bill to come forward in parliamentary time, we will continue in that way.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

What steps he is taking to accelerate the production of clean energy.

[Andrew Griffith (Arundel and South Downs) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to increase renewable energy production.

[The Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)]

In December, the Government aim to deliver their biggest auction for renewables yet through the contracts for difference scheme. Our £240 million net zero hydrogen fund and forthcoming hydrogen business model will enable us to deliver our 5 GW low-carbon hydrogen production ambition to use across the economy. We have also announced the clean heat grant and the green heat network fund, and will launch the green gas support scheme later this year.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

How good are we actually going to be at the production of green hydrogen?

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

There is a short answer, or I could give my right hon. Friend a longer one. Brilliant. [Laughter.]