Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Graham Stuart and Andrew Selous

Tuesday 27th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

15. When she plans to publish the second consultation on the review of electricity market arrangements.

[The Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero (Graham Stuart)]

The Government plan to publish the second consultation imminently. It will set out a clear direction on how the GB electricity market arrangements will evolve to keep electricity bills as low as possible for consumers of all types.

[Andrew Selous]

There are two questions that my constituents ask me most frequently: when will we see cheaper electricity from renewables, and when people in areas such as mine, which host a lot of renewable production, benefit from cheaper prices, as a result of hosting that infrastructure?

[Graham Stuart]

The Government are moving on from our appalling inheritance in 2010 of less than 7% of our electricity coming from renewables, with that figure today up to well over 40%. Every day we add to that, we displace gas and other fossil fuels and lower bills for people, and we plan to keep that going. We already have solar, onshore wind and other developers providing benefits to consumers, and we will come forward with plans for those hosting—

Road Fuel Prices

Debate between Graham Stuart and Andrew Selous

Monday 3rd July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

I will write to the hon. Gentleman with the precise details of everybody who will be included. He is right to highlight that this is not just an issue in urban areas. However, in those areas there tends to be more competition and easier transparency than there can be in rural and coastal areas.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

A couple of weeks ago, I drew the House’s attention to the fact that the same supermarket tanker would unload fuel at 10p a litre cheaper in one place than it would if it came 10 to 15 miles up the road to my constituency. If today’s report does not fix that, it will not have been good enough and the Government will have more work to do. I hope that my right hon. Friend will give me some reassurance on that point.

[Graham Stuart]

We have to make sure the market works. Transparency is our biggest single weapon, and we need to be doing this in a way that reaches people, be they digitally enabled or not; we are wrestling with those details. Let us look at the alternative to a market-based system—other countries have tried it, as it is a populist measure. It does not work, it leads to a shortage of supply and it ends up creating the very dominance that we seek to ensure is not exploited in systems such as we have seen in this CMA report.

Electric Vehicle Battery Production

Debate between Graham Stuart and Andrew Selous

Wednesday 18th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

The hon. Lady is right to highlight the importance of semiconductors to the automotive industry. I hope we will see that coming out as soon as possible.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

As an unashamed enthusiast of UK electric vehicle production, there is understandable sadness on all sides of the House that Britishvolt is not proceeding. It was good to hear my right hon. Friend the Minister talk about four or five significant investments here in the UK, but I hope his Department will come back to the House shortly to further outline the UK strategy in this area, in particular on critical mineral supply chains—they have already been raised—which are so key to this part of the UK’s economic future.

[Graham Stuart]

My hon. Friend takes a close interest in these issues. He is right that we need to do more and critical minerals are a part of that. A whole series of elements need to come together, as another hon. Friend said, to form that battery and to be the vital component in a successful British automotive manufacturing industry for the future.