Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jess Brown-Fuller and Ed Miliband

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

13. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of mechanisms to encourage private sector investment in renewable energy sources.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband)]

Since the election last year, we have secured over £50 billion of investment into the UK’s clean energy industries. Last year’s renewables auction for allocation round 6 was the most successful in our history, and we will shortly open the AR7 auction. This is the way to deliver energy security, lower bills and good jobs for our communities.

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

Private sector investment via community energy schemes is a popular way of engaging people to get behind renewable energy projects in their area. A great example is Meadow Blue Community Energy in my constituency of Chichester, which puts money back into the community with a grant scheme and is now funding solar panels on local school roofs. Does the Secretary of State agree that community energy projects would attract more private sector investment if grid access costs were reduced and the delivery of local supply was made easier?

[Ed Miliband]

The hon. Lady raises an important issue, which was also raised by the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright). She is right about the virtues of community energy. Great British Energy is going to partner with local communities to deliver community energy up and down the country, because sometimes public capital—it could be loans, it could be grants—can help lever in the private capital that we need. She is also right about some of the barriers, as the Energy Minister mentioned. I want to assure her that we are going through the different barriers in granular, nerdy detail to see how we can break them down.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jess Brown-Fuller and Ed Miliband

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

I do not agree with the right hon. Gentleman, for whom I have great respect. The situation that we inherited from the last Government meant that we had to consider matters such as security of supply and how we could secure the best deal for bill payers. That is what we did, and that is why we made the statement that we made on Drax. On longer term, however, the right hon. Gentleman is entirely right. We need to move away from unabated biomass and consider all the possibilities to enable us to move towards net zero, and that is what this Government are doing.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating the six students from Bourne community college who came to Westminster yesterday to present their report on the future of hydrogen storage as a net zero approach to aviation? Does he agree that students engaging with science, technology, engineering and mathematics are excited about the potential of clean power and carbon capture, and that proper funding for STEM in our schools will provide us with the next generation of scientists and engineers who can help us to achieve these goals?

[Ed Miliband]

I join the hon. Lady in warmly congratulating the six students from her constituency whom she mentioned. I am sure that I speak for all Members of the House when I say that when we meet young people who are engaged in the potential of clean energy technology to transform our country and our world, it is an incredibly important reminder, both about its potential for jobs, and about our duties to future generations.