Renewable Energy: Cornwall

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the development of renewable energy in Cornwall.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. To achieve net zero by 2030, Britain needs Cornwall. If I get anything across in the next 15 minutes, I want everyone in this room to leave with full knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the vast and unique scale of the opportunity in Cornwall for a large-scale, thriving renewable energy sector that creates skilled jobs, brings social value to local people and generates clean energy, helping us to meet that 2030 target. It is a challenge that will require both hands to grasp, but that does not faze the people of Cornwall, who have known a rich industrial past and do not need convincing of the positives of a new industrial future.

Our riches are plentiful and unique. They are buried under our rock, under the waves that surround our 400 miles of coast, in our harsh, whistling south-westerly winds and from our come-and-go solar rays. Harnessing those riches has not always been easy, but if industrialism literally runs through the Cornish landscape, in the tin-rich veins that pass through our granite, resourcefulness runs through the blood of the Cornish. Our geography and landscape are unique and fundamental to our potential. We are surrounded on three sides by the sea, in particular the Celtic sea, which has a great water depth—Falmouth is the third deepest harbour in the world. We are sitting on globally significant mineral deposits, and our granite holds the heat of geothermal energy.

Around 37% of Cornwall’s electricity is currently generated from renewable sources, and the renewable sector already exists here: it is cutting-edge, thriving and leads the way nationally and internationally. But it is nowhere near the scale that we need to make the most of the opportunities that exist.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Lady for bringing forward this debate. As she has outlined, it is clear that we need Cornwall to achieve net zero. But it is also worth remembering that the Secretary of State said in the Chamber that this is an object for every part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Many other constituencies need to contribute as well. The hon. Lady puts forward Cornwall; will she also remember other parts of the United Kingdom?

[Jayne Kirkham]

The hon. Gentleman is quite correct. My point is that Cornwall has some catching up to do with other parts of the country, but I am aware that other parts of the UK are in the same situation.

The Secretaries of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and for the Department for Business and Trade visited my constituency and that of my neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon), earlier this year, and met businesses with solutions in the marine, geo, tidal and wind spheres. The breadth of the innovation in Cornwall is huge. However, the sector needs investment along with the ambition and determination, and a long-term strategy from Government to make that vision a reality.

Under the previous Government, there was a de facto ban on onshore wind. Of planning applications for onshore wind turbines over 150 kW in Cornwall since January 2015, only one was successful in planning and has since become operational. I am very pleased that one of the first things this Government did was to end that ban on onshore wind. Community energy projects did not receive much support from the previous Government either. The rural community energy fund was only open from 2019 to 2022, and there were no new funding sources for urban community energy projects after that, except from local government.

Renewable Energy Projects: Community Benefits

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) on setting the scene so well. He high- lighted the importance of a good relationship in respect of renewable energy and the benefits for constituents. In two minutes, it is impossible to say all I need to, so I will not hang about. As we approach the conference of the parties, it is important to remember the benefits that these projects have for the local communities that we represent.

I always give a Northern Ireland perspective in these debates. Community Energy NI has revealed that community benefit is often associated with large-scale energy, and there are numerous wind farms across Northern Ireland. Many developments now offer community funding to a level of £5,000 per megawatt per annum over their lifetime. The energy strategy for Northern Ireland was published by the Department for the Economy in December 2021. For this action plan, the Government focused on potential energy schemes with regard to the consideration of onshore wind, solar and hydrogen.

There is fantastic potential across the United Kingdom for shared ownership options whereby a developer enters into a financial partnership with a community group or local residents. We are doing these things in Northern Ireland and we wish to do more. At present, community benefit packages are provided on a voluntary basis and there is no legal requirement in the UK for developers of energy infrastructure to provide community benefits.

I want to highlight one issue to the Minister. Legislation on energy is a reserved matter, but if we in Northern Ireland want to go ahead with a scheme, we need the planning Department; planning is a devolved matter. It is a case of marrying the two. How can we and how can the Minister work better with the planning Department in Northern Ireland to ensure that when we have projects that we want to expedite, we are not held up? I look forward to seeing how we can expand the possibility of better community renewables projects across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, especially to allow the devolved nations to play a part in that success.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Michael Shanks)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship again today, Dr Huq. It is good to look out and see so many of my colleagues from the Great British Energy Bill Committee here to discuss energy again. I am glad we got the Bill through Committee quickly enough for us to be here—we did not need our afternoon session.

I do not have a huge amount of time, and I want to get to as many hon. Members’ contributions as possible. Of course, I want to leave the hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) time to conclude this important debate—I congratulate him on securing it. Hopefully he will see from the enthusiasm and the level of participation how important others find this subject. I know from his maiden speech and other contributions how important it is for him and his constituents.

Just a few weeks ago, I had the real pleasure of visiting the hon. Gentleman’s constituency; I went to the Isle of Eigg to spend a day learning about the community energy project there. Although in some ways that project is unique, it is a very good example of how a whole community can benefit from such projects. The community genuinely has the power in its own hands—it has its own micro-generation grid—and it has received other benefits as people have upskilled themselves so that they can understand how the grid works and manage it.

I thank all right hon. and hon. Members for their contributions. I will try to respond to as many as I can, but I will briefly start with the context. This Government have come to power facing three interlinked challenges—ensuring energy security, displaying climate leadership and bringing down bills for people across the country—to which our response is our clean power by 2030 mission. Clean power is the only way to protect our constituents from the rollercoaster of price spikes that we have faced over the past few years, and to deliver the climate leadership that we need. That is why we introduced the Great British Energy Bill within our first 100 days, and why it is progressing through Parliament as quickly as possible. Great British Energy, which will have its headquarters in Aberdeen, is an important part of our plan to increase the delivery speed of renewables projects and, crucially—I will come back to this point—to ensure that the British people have a stake in that energy future. The Conservative party has for many years accepted the premise of publicly owned energy companies, but it does not support the premise of the British people being part of a publicly owned energy company—just ownership by companies from beyond our shores. Of course, we welcome their investment in this country, but with Great British Energy, we are saying that we would also like the British public to have a part to play.

A number of hon. Members made points about community ownership. Although this debate is about community benefits, I think, as some hon. Members have said, there are links between them. The Great British Energy Bill is about setting up the company, but there is a wider context in the Government’s local power plan, which commits to much more community ownership of energy, and ensuring that communities large and small have the funding and, crucially, the capacity to take forward some of those projects themselves.

Delivering on our clean energy mission, which is undoubtedly ambitious, will require action on a number of fronts. I want to touch on infrastructure, which many hon. Members have mentioned. There is at the heart of the current Conservative party’s rhetoric on that subject a fundamental contradiction. We heard it from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier), but I also heard almost exactly the same words from the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie) on the shadow Front Bench in the Committee earlier today, where on the one hand, there is a recognition that we need significant upgrades to the grid, and yet on the other hand, there is no desire to make a commitment to building any new infrastructure to deliver it. Both those things cannot be true at the same time.

I gently point out to Opposition Members that after 14 years of government, that is not a new problem. The grid did not suddenly fall apart in July 2024, with the Labour Government. That challenge has been facing the country for a long time. Indeed, I would meet Conservative Members halfway and say that even beyond the 14 years they were in government, there has been a challenge on the grid. However, they had 14 years to take action and did not. This Government are now moving forward.

If we want to see the connections issue resolved, and community projects able to connect into the grid, as hon. Members have mentioned, we do need to build some of that infrastructure. That requires communities to host the infrastructure, so I turn to a number of points that were raised about how we work in partnership with communities—using collaboration, not coercion. It is important that the entire mission is a national one—for Government, but also to ensure that every member of the public is part of our achieving clean power by 2030. Key to that will be reforms to planning regulations. To deliver the critical infrastructure that this country needs, nationally significant infrastructure must be built; our planning system is holding that back.

The planning and infrastructure Bill, which we will introduce shortly, will speed up and streamline the planning process. We will also be updating relevant national policy statements within the next year, in order to provide certainty to industry. In Scotland, the current electricity infrastructure consenting regime is from the Electricity Act 1989 and has not been updated in line with other legislation across the UK. The regime is too slow and is holding back investment. I am working closely with my Scottish Government counterparts on how we develop a set of proposals to reform that and speed up the new infrastructure development that we need.

I come back to the point that hon. Members have rightly made—that as much as we need to streamline the planning process because we need to build the infrastructure, communities must be at the heart of it. Public engagement and consultation will continue to be incredibly important, but so also will be a more holistic approach to planning energy infrastructure in the first place. That has been the root cause of many of the challenges that hon. Members have raised today. The lack of strategic planning for some of our energy infrastructure in the past has led to bottlenecks, which we want to avoid in future.

Finally, I turn to the point about communities living near clean energy infrastructure, including the transmission infrastructure that we need to build. Let us be clear: communities, by hosting that infrastructure, are providing a service to the country. It is essential that we build that infrastructure; it must be built somewhere. The challenge I have with some of the discussion on that subject is that we fall into the trap sometimes of saying, “Yes, we agree we need to upgrade the grid, but not anywhere near my constituency, please.” That will not work, unfortunately. We want to ensure that those communities that do host this infrastructure, on behalf of us all as a country, directly benefit from it. Communities are important, not just in terms of hosting infrastructure but in terms of the wider acceptance of the direction of travel that we are taking. We need communities to be with us if we are to achieve the necessary pace. At the moment, as has been raised, such community benefits are voluntary arrangements. They could be monetary or non-monetary schemes; there are a variety of different options across the country, some that work extremely well and others that, as many here know, do not work so well. The voluntary nature of arrangements for delivery of community benefits does lead to these significant variations.

[Jim Shannon]

As I outlined in my submission to this debate, infrastructure is a reserved matter, but back home in Northern Ireland it is a planning matter, which is devolved. The question is how the two combine. It is a very simple question. It might require a much more difficult answer, but I would really appreciate it if the Minister could answer, please.

[Michael Shanks]

That is a very important question and I was going to come to the hon. Gentleman’s specific point in a moment. He is absolutely right. Since I came into post, I have been working with my counterpart Ministers in the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments on how we can work together. Clearly, in Northern Ireland that is slightly different because energy is transferred, so the policy levers are slightly different. However, we do have the same outcomes in mind throughout the UK, which is really important. I will continue to work with Conor Murphy and the wider Executive to bring us together as much as possible, because the hon. Member makes a very important point.

On community benefits in particular, we are continuing—at pace—the work started by the previous Government to review how we can effectively deliver benefits for communities living near this infrastructure. We are looking at examples across Europe—we are not on this journey on our own; there are other countries that have been doing this for a very long time, and we are learning from that—and developing clear guidance on community benefits for both the infrastructure and the transmission networks. We will publish that in due course. Great British Energy’s role will be to build upon existing community energy schemes under way across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It will build on that experience to contribute more where it can.

I shall now respond to a few of the specific points raised by hon. Members. The point on solar projects, raised by the hon. Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke)—who is not in her place, but I will write to her on this—is an incredibly important one. Part of the aim of the solar taskforce set up by the previous Government and reconvened by this Government is to set out a very clear pathway for these projects.

Several hon. Members mentioned standing charges. The Government are looking at that issue right now. We accept that far too much of a burden and too much of bills comes from standing charges and we are working with the regulator to do much more about that.

Although I listed 12 other points from hon. Members, I am conscious that I have eight minutes in which to cover them. To allow the hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire time to wind up the debate, I will close by saying that as a Government we take this issue very seriously. Our ambition is to bring communities with us on this journey. We want to do that through a collaborative approach, with all hon. Members, but also with communities at the heart of this. We will have much more to say on that in the weeks and months ahead.

Nuclear Industry: Cumbria

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 14th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Josh MacAlister]

I thank my hon. Friend for the intervention, and given that my entire speech is dedicated to that very point, I will gladly agree with her. West Cumbrians are incredibly proud of the part we played in the first clean energy revolution. We need only speak to some of those who worked at the power plant during its 47 years in operation to hear the pride in their voices.

After Calder Hall came another 10 nuclear power plants in 10 years—we opened 10 in 10 years.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for securing the debate. He is right to point to the 10 power stations that were built, but if I may, I will gently remind him of the one that did not happen—although not as a result of what he says. Northern Ireland and the devolved nations have an important role to play in nuclear power provision. Almost 70 years ago there were plans to build Northern Ireland’s first atomic power station in County Tyrone, but ultimately they fell through. It is so important that we collectively have the facilities necessary to advance our nuclear power. Does he agree that, alongside his constituency and other areas of the mainland UK, more must be done to ensure that the devolved nations, including Northern Ireland, are considered for manufacturing bases and as potential areas for power stations in the future?

[Josh MacAlister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for the intervention and I am glad to hear he is not blaming me for the decades-old issue with nuclear power in Northern Ireland. I agree with him that every corner of the United Kingdom could benefit from its energy output.

Richard Butler said at the time that Calder Hall was opened:

“It may be that after 1965 every new power station being built will be an atomic power station.”

From our dependence on fossil fuel towards the end of the 20th century, however, we know that that was not the case. It was the last Labour Government that reignited interest in new nuclear in 2005. The then Prime Minister, Sir Tony Blair, announced a review of the Government’s energy policy in order to reduce our reliance on foreign imports and tackle the threat of climate change. He recognised that we could not do that with renewables alone and he rightly and firmly put civil nuclear power back on the table.

In 2009, following an announcement by the then—and current—Energy Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster North (Ed Miliband), we had ambitious plans for 10 sites to be the home of a new fleet of nuclear power stations, including three in Cumbria. The aim was for that fleet to shift the UK decisively from fossil fuels to clean, dependable power, to safeguard our nuclear skills and to provide energy security for decades into the 21st century. Moorside in my constituency, Hinkley, Sizewell, Hartlepool, Heysham, Wylfa, Oldbury and Bradwell were the communities identified to deliver that mission.

How many of them have a new nuclear power station today, 15 years on? Zero. Under the Conservatives, only one new nuclear project, Hinkley, was given the full go- ahead, and none opened during their time in Government. Fourteen years squandered—not only that, but we actually went backwards, with new nuclear projects collapsing on their watch.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

The beauty of carbon budgets and the system that was introduced when I was last in government—to be fair, it was carried on by the previous Government of the past 14 years—is that they do at least in theory constrain what the Government do. It is very important that we take carbon budgets seriously in our plans. The plans we inherited from the last Government were way off track for meeting our carbon budgets, which is what this Government will do.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I very much welcome the Secretary of State to his place. Climate change is real; it is not a myth. The quicker that everyone understands that, the better. Can I pose a question to the Secretary of State on rewilding? There are some suggestions among experts that rewilding by planting trees on moor and heather might not be the most constructive way of utilising rewilding. Has he had an opportunity to look at the issue of rewilding on moors and heather, which I understand that many experts think is detrimental?

[Ed Miliband]

I take the hon. Gentleman seriously on these issues, and I undertake to write to him or to have one of the Ministers write to him. I make the general point that rewilding and nature-based solutions are an essential part of tackling the climate crisis.

Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 7th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

And the final word goes to Jim Shannon.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Maybe not the final word, Madam Deputy Speaker, as that will be for the Secretary of State. I welcome the statement, in which he rightly underlined that anybody who ignores carbon capture, use and storage does so at their peril, and the Government’s commitment to carbon capture. While the amount set aside is incredible, so too is the requirement that every penny brings an achievement. How will the Secretary of State ensure that each region of the United Kingdom is involved in this net gain? I say to him gently that Northern Ireland is not mentioned in his statement; I am sure he will address that issue. There must be accountability to ensure the realisation of environmental goals, rather than simply the aspiration of achieving them.

[Ed Miliband]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. I hope he has a conversation with his right hon. Friend the Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson)—[Interruption.] I see the right hon. Member does not want to talk to him right now. A good point to end on is the fact that, of course, jobs will be created in certain parts of the United Kingdom, but the measures announced will benefit supply chains across the whole United Kingdom. This Government look forward to ensuring that happens.

COP29: UK Priorities

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Ealing Southall for introducing this debate. Last week, she talked about waste; this week she is talking about COP29, and it is pleasure to hear her speak on both those matters. I look forward to many more contributions from her in Westminster Hall.

The COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, will be the first “COP of peace”. We hope that will be the case and we will see how it goes, focusing on the prevention of future climate-fuelled conflicts and using international co-operation and green issues to help to heal existing tensions. In terms of our climate, and green success, there is still much to be done, so it is great to be here and talking about that subject.

Hon. Members who have made contributions have grasped that. I thought the balance that the hon. Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister) aimed for in his contribution summed up where I am as well. I hope to develop the idea of balance in my thoughts.

One of the themes of COP29 is that of an inclusive process for inclusive action, which is one of those statements we need to think about for a wee minute to see what it actually means. It aims to encompass the host’s plans to engage with international stakeholders to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

On international stakeholders, does my hon. Friend agree that in taking the balanced approach which he and others have recommended, we need to ensure that the major polluters—those who are polluting more than all the other undeveloped nations together, such as Russia, China and so on—are persuaded and pressurised to reduce their emissions, because if they do not, many of the actions that are being promoted among developed countries are going to be of little or no effect?

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, and his as always wise and salient words. The big countries in the world, such as China, Russia and others, have a disregard for fossil fuel pollution and seem to wish to pollute the rest of the world from their own countries. There is a real need for them to do something.

I am really pleased to see the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in her place. She sat on the Opposition side of the Chamber in many debates; she and I would have been alongside each other on many things, supporting the same objectives and the same targets. It is a real pleasure to see her today and I wish her well. It also nice to see the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier), in his place.

I always bring the Northern Ireland perspective to debates, because it is important that we understand—perhaps appreciate is a better word—things that are happening in Northern Ireland and how they contribute to policy at Westminster. In Northern Ireland, as a smaller nation of the United Kingdom, we are not shy to the feeling of being left behind, so it is important that efforts are made to engage with international stakeholders, which my hon. Friend referred to.

I will give an example. Climate Northern Ireland brings together members from the key range of sectors to share best practice and enable positive action to address the impacts of climate change. It is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and aims to support the development and implementation of climate policy—it is really important, and core to the Department’s policy—by enabling the exchange of expertise and advice between Government Departments, public bodies and civil society. It brings them all together under one umbrella to pursue a policy that coincides and works alongside the one at Westminster.

I live in Greyabbey in Strangford and am a farmer there. I was saying to some people I met earlier this morning that I love to come here for the history, but I do not enjoy the concrete. I like to get back home to where the fields are green and where I can walk out and breathe the fresh country air, but that does not take away from where we are. Numerous neighbours of mine own farms themselves. It is really important that we have balance in this debate.

[Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

The hon. Member talked about peace and working together with international stakeholders. I would like to add to the calls on the Government for a special climate envoy nominated for our country, because all the things that are being said here today require diplomacy, negotiation and preparation before any climate summit.

I have 15 years’ experience of working in international climate negotiations, from the developing country aspect. I have witnessed how important the roles of special representatives, other climate envoys around the world and climate ambassadors are. Would the hon. Member, and the hon. Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) who introduced this debate, agree that the climate envoy should be nominated by the Prime Minister, so that it has the gravitas to put the UK back into a global leadership position, which the former Conservative Government trashed?

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention and for the work she did in her previous occupation. That brings a wealth of knowledge to debates here; we can all learn and be the wiser for that. The Minister might be able to respond to our thoughts. We are looking for a climate envoy, as the hon. Lady referred to. We should all recognise the justification for that. I look forward to hearing in the Minister’s response on how that is to be taken care of.

In the farming community where I live, we understand the huge significance of farming and agriculture for our climate, as well as the contribution to the local economy. That is why it is important to get the balance right. I work closely alongside the Ulster Farmers Union and the National Farmers Union. I declare an interest that I should have mentioned earlier: I am a member of the Ulster Farmers Union and work alongside it on many policies. It has pledged support for issues such as measures on emissions. It is important to bring people along; it is important to bring along the farming community. It is important to understand the goals, then we can work together. That is what everyone wants but it is never easy to achieve. As I have said before, these things are hard to do without the commitment of funding for our Government. Maybe we can get some clarity from the Minister on the commitment to Northern Ireland.

The Minister’s interest in Northern Ireland has never been in dispute, but I would like to hear whether she has had an opportunity to talk with the DAERA Minister in Northern Ireland, Andrew Muir, or with civil servants and Government officials, to see how we can work on this together. If we are going to do it, it is always better to do it together.

I understand the Labour Government have not yet published their priorities for COP29. I am keen to see what they are. When we reflect on the most recent policy document, that sets out a commitment to keeping 1.5 alive. Limiting global temperature increases is really important. Some people believe that is not happening but, as we look about us around the world, we know we have to address this key issue. Building resilience and reversing biodiversity loss were priorities set out in the Paris agreement. I understand that the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero has met current and past COP presidents.

Other roles are taken by local councils, stakeholders and small, medium and large businesses. Most importantly, I honestly believe our constituents want to do their bit, but they must be given the means to do so. My way of doing politics has always been to try to bring everyone with us. It is in the nature of life that we might not agree on everything but, when we have a joint goal, we can focus better together. We are always better together and have roles to play at councils, at the Northern Ireland Assembly, and at regional and Westminster level.

COP provides a fantastic opportunity for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to pave the way in climate success, by being adaptable and showing that we are willing to learn as a collective. There is a lot to learn and a lot to do; let us do it together.

Great British Energy Bill

Jim Shannon Excerpts

2nd reading
Thursday 5th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

I will make a bit more progress.

I had the chance to visit the Lawrence Weston turbine in Bristol, which Members may know about. It is England’s tallest onshore wind turbine, and it is 100% owned by the local community, powering at least 3,000 local homes and reinvesting revenues into local projects.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

rose—

[Ed Miliband]

I have caught the eye of an infrequent contributor to this House, so I will give way.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the Secretary of State for what he is putting forward. It seems logical for the UK to manufacture this process, rather than others doing it for us. The question for my constituents, I say respectfully to the Secretary of State, is, what will the price of energy be at the end? A LucidTalk poll for National Energy Action evaluated the impact of rising energy prices on households in Northern Ireland. It found that 41% of households were spending more than 10% of their income on their home energy costs. How can we make sure that my constituents, and indeed all our constituents, can have energy they can pay for?

[Ed Miliband]

The hon. Member is absolutely right. This is a massive concern for all our constituents, and Great British Energy is a crucial tool to bring down prices for our constituents. The truth is that every Member in this House has to make a judgment on this. Do they believe that business as usual, staying on fossil fuels, will give us the energy security we need? We discussed this in the House on Tuesday. The truth is that we had the worst cost of living crisis in generations because of our exposure to fossil fuels. We are seeing prices rise again on 1 October, not because of Government decisions but because of our dependence on international gas markets. The argument for clean energy 15 years ago was a climate argument; it is now as much an energy security argument as a climate argument.

Clean Energy Superpower Mission

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Siobhain McDonagh)]

I call Jim Shannon.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Oh, thank you—you caught me off guard there, Madam Deputy Speaker, because I am so used to being the last one in the House to be called.

I welcome the Secretary of State to his place. I know it has always been his ambition to have the opportunity to have this role. Now he has it, I hope it goes well for him, and we will support him in what he is trying to achieve. With the new Government comes a new way of achieving goals and aims. I represent Strangford, which is a mostly rural constituency. Farming is a way of life and a key part of the economy. It creates thousands of jobs and opportunities, and is key to our future. Green energy and net zero are important for that as well. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the farming community and agrifood needs will be paramount in any effort to achieve a better world for all of us to live in?

[Edward Miliband]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind words. In the last few days, I have sometimes sai3d to people that I feel that I am going back to the job I did 15 years ago, but getting to try and do it better. I am sure Members on the Opposition Benches would agree with that. It is an amazing opportunity and a big responsibility.

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about the role of rural of communities, particularly farming communities. We are determined to get the balance right between food security, nature preservation and clean energy. The truth is that we, as a country, have not thought about the role of our land enough in recent years. We hope that will be driven by the land use framework that will be produced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.