Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower

Jonathan Reynolds Excerpts

Thursday 9th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is always a privilege to close one of these debates, but to do so in response to a debate on the first King’s Speech in 70 years is truly historic. I thank each and every one of the 19 Members of Parliament who have taken part today. These debates are not just a part of our history or our pageantry, or a simple act of ceremony; they allow a Government to set their direction, to frame their agenda and to explain to the public what the Government will be doing on their behalf, and that is an amazing and privileged thing to be able to do. On behalf of those of us who have only ever sat on the Opposition side of the House, I have to express a sense of genuine envy for the power and opportunity that Conservative colleagues have, as the Government, to shape the future of this amazing country of ours, although to be frank I think they sometimes forget how blessed they are to have that opportunity.

What is it that we have been presented with? The Government’s major announcement in the weekend preceding the King’s Speech was a proposed ban on homeless people having tents, because the Home Secretary believes that homelessness is a lifestyle decision. I am pleased that that shameful proposition has been dropped, but should not the Government have a better story to tell than that? I was very pleased to hear some colleagues, including the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), explicitly say that those comments did not carry their support.

As we heard the Gracious Speech, we realised that the Government’s programme is not only incredibly thin, but completely incoherent. It was a speech that promised record investment in renewable energy, just weeks after the Prime Minister abandoned climate leadership and dropped key targets for the transition. It was a speech that promised a more competitive Britain, without acknowledging the huge increase in red tape facing so many of our exporters, for which this Government are responsible. It was a speech that promised long-term decisions, just days after the country’s flagship long-term infrastructure project was cancelled. Most of all, it was a speech that offered no change, despite the Prime Minister himself saying that after 13 years of Conservative Government, change is essential. On that score, he is surely right. This Conservative Government over the last 13 years have been one of the least successful in British history, and now we know that this latest Prime Minister will fail on his own terms, because he is only offering more of the same.

I admire the Prime Minister’s candour about his own party’s record over the past 13 years. Our public realm is literally crumbling, we have the lowest business investment in the G7, we have had over a decade of poor economic growth, people are struggling to pay their bills, we are not getting the basics right—we are short of houses and infrastructure—and we face big and complex challenges like net zero and charting a course to a prosperous post-Brexit future. All those things require the very best of Government. We need a Government who come to this House with urgency and passion, courage and ambition; a Government who want to work with industry and workers to get the transition right; a Government who will put the interests of working people ahead of the hobby-horses of their own Back Benchers; and Ministers with vision, drive and determination. But that is not this Government, and it never will be.

The subject of today’s debate is making Britain a clean energy superpower, and Britain could and should be that clean energy superpower. We are entering an age that will be dominated by offshore wind, solar, nuclear and carbon capture, and we have several competitive advantages that should make us the envy of the world. We genuinely have the potential to do things that no other country could do, but that is not going to happen by accident. We need to deploy political and economic capital to make it happen. The Climate Change Committee says that there is a policy gap that amounts to a fifth of the emissions that need to be reduced to meet the 2030 target, yet I think only one Conservative MP even mentioned that in the debate.

The only way to insulate ourselves from future energy crises is to minimise our exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices. Before the invasion of Ukraine, we were never dependent on Russian gas, but we were heavily exposed to the price of all gas—more exposed, in fact, than any other nation. That must never happen again, but it will happen again under the Conservatives.

The North sea is an incredible source of British pride and success, and it will continue to have a role in the energy mix for decades to come. But the belief that more oil and gas licences are the answer to Britain’s energy security, lower bills or more jobs is evidently false and risks both our prosperity and national security—the right hon. Member for Kingswood (Chris Skidmore) made that case extremely well in his speech, and I pay tribute to him in what he believes will be his final King’s Speech.

There were many references to the legacy of the coalmines and the difficult transition in the 1980s and 1990s—I am from one of the areas affected and I grew up there, and I recognise those issues—but the job of Government is to recognise that, when change comes, they will help people to make the transition. I have listened to all the speeches today, but what is the Government’s plan, knowing that a transition will have to come at some point? At what point will they stop further oil and gas licences? Do they even recognise that those decisions have to be made? If every country in the world maximises its own domestic resources, all of this agenda will be for nothing, and 3° and beyond will be the reality of the world we live in.

There is so much that this King’s Speech could and should have said. At the top of my list would have been having a real industrial strategy so that we get the benefits of being a clean energy superpower when we achieve that. Such a strategy would give investors confidence after the frequent and disastrous changes of policy over the last few years, deal comprehensively with the problems that hold investment back, and see public investment used to leverage in the private investment we are lacking.

We need the planning system sorting out urgently so that it does not take 13 years to build a wind farm. We need reform of the apprenticeship levy so that more money goes into the skills and retraining that the transition requires. We need a new deal for working people so that they have the security they need to provide for their families. We need greater devolution, power and control to go to our towns and cities. We have to improve our deal with the EU as part of a proper trade strategy that stands behind our great British exporters and strengthens Britain on the world stage. All those things would bring wealth, opportunity and pride back to Britain.

Many of my Opposition colleagues made excellent speeches, which I want to reference. My hon. Friend the Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner) lamented that the UK is no longer showing leadership on this issue. He talked about the need to decarbonise buildings and pointed out correctly that the Government’s retreat on energy efficiency standards for domestic properties, particularly in the private rented sector, will cost people money. That was one of the most glaring points where the Prime Minister got it wrong in his speech.

The hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) summed up the Government’s two-clause Bill by saying it would have no impact on bills or energy security and that it represents a gimmick at a time when we need seriousness. If I may say so, I thought she deserved a more gracious response to her speech from those on the Government Benches.

My hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson) highlighted three particularly significant points she wanted to see action on. She talked first about the problem of the Government changing their target for phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles, while local businesses in her constituency, such as Nissan, had already invested as part of the Government’s existing timetable. That is a prime example of what we have seen time and time again over the last 13 years: deadlines are changed, and the private sector cannot rely on what the Government will do. That is one reason why investment is so poor in the UK.

My hon. Friend talked of the music and sport sectors and her lengthy campaign against online touts, and I would love the chance, as a Business Secretary, to work with her to fulfil her long-standing campaign aims. She also talked about school food and the need to recognise the pressures on the school food procurement system, and her points were well made.

My hon. Friend the Member for Coventry North East (Colleen Fletcher) demanded a coherent long-term plan, and she is right that that was at the heart of what we needed from the King’s Speech. In what I thought was a very fair-minded speech, my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols) recognised that there were parts of the King’s speech that we would all give a warm welcome to, such as the demand for tougher sentences, but she was right to ask how that is consistent with the Government not having sufficient prison places for people already committing crimes. She also talked of the fundamental lack of ambition in the King’s Speech and the missed opportunity it represents.

My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Nadia Whittome) talked about how the King’s Speech was completely incongruous with the reality of the problems that the UK faces, and about how the energy and net zero agenda is fundamentally an opportunity—on that she is surely right.

The hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Neale Hanvey) said that there was not much to discuss in the King’s Speech; I thought that was a good line. On the points we heard about the relationship between this agenda and Scottish independence, I think it is fair to point out that at the time of the Scottish independence referendum, even the independence White Paper proposed keeping a UK-wide energy market. That is because surely the right way to develop Scotland’s incredible potential is to match the chance to develop that with a UK-wide subsidy regime. That case, which was made at that time by adherents of independence, should be acknowledged.

My hon. Friend the Member for Jarrow (Kate Osborne) was right to call the speech “vacuous” and a wasted opportunity. She also compared it to the scale of the challenges we face and pointed out how the Government did not even use the last Session of Parliament well. The Government have not just run out of steam in relation to this agenda; they ran out of steam some time ago.

My hon. Friend the Member for Wakefield (Simon Lightwood) pointed out the need to address the real, practical things that are holding the country back. He mentioned business rates reform, and a commitment and desire to see greater community safety. That is what Labour has done, and that is why he is just one of many new Members of Parliament on the Labour Benches, adding to the by-election victories that we are totting up.

Finally, the hon. Member for Gordon (Richard Thomson) gave us in his speech not only points about the fundamental failure of Government policy but energy policy as a family love story, which I thought was wonderful; I am sure that we send his family all the best in that.

The desire for change and real practical ways in which we can deliver it flowed through every speech made by Opposition Members. We can offer that change because we have had the courage to change ourselves. We have acknowledged our defeat in 2019 and put our own house in order. As those speeches reflected, we have focused on the priorities that matter most to the British people and the need always to put our country first in a way that is true to the best Labour Governments of the past. In contrast, I see a Conservative party that is not only tired and out of ideas but, unfortunately, increasingly beholden to cranks and extremists.

This may have been the first King’s Speech for 70 years, but it is clear that our country needs it to be the last Conservative one in quite a while. The contrast between the Conservatives and Labour could not be starker: it is failure versus hope, the past versus the future, and short tactical gimmicks from a dying Government versus a long-term plan for national renewal.

I have the deepest of respect for every colleague who comes to this place, makes a speech in a debate such as this and represents their community. I believe that the overwhelming majority of us do so in good faith and with good intentions. That is why being a Member of this House is, and always will be, an honour and a privilege. But the combination of national decline and the erosion of standards in public life over the last few years, so visibly illuminated in the evidence we have heard from the covid inquiry, is nothing short of a disgrace. This is a Government who are not living up to the potential of the country or the job our constituents need them to do, so we do need change—the Prime Minister is right on that—but it has got to be real change. The only way that real change can come is by giving the people what they want and what they need, and that is a general election.

Let’s let the people decide on the future and the change they want. Only then will we get the King’s Speech, and the change and hope, that this country needs and deserves, and which we on the Labour Benches fully intend to give it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ms Ghani]

That is a valuable point. The most frustrating aspect of being a Minister is the lack of sufficient time and space to talk about some of the challenges and how we respond to them. If we had not provided support to enable Port Talbot to have those electric arc furnaces, thousands of jobs would have been lost. Unfortunately, however, there are always some people who argue that change inevitably brings challenge, and we get stick on that point. However, our investment means that those jobs are now secure, as are, I believe, more than 10,000 jobs in the supply chain. That will give people the reassurance that they need about their continued ability to produce steel or products in the supply chain.

[Jonathan Reynolds]

Owing to the importance of this issue, I must add something to the record. As the Minister and the Secretary of State know, electric arc furnaces are not the only way to decarbonise the steel industry. There are examples around the world of the use of ammonia and hydrogen in what is known as the direct reduced iron process, and other technologies are under way. Are we to be the first developed country to lose the capacity to make virgin steel? That appears to be Government policy, but I am not sure that the Minister could deliver the necessary votes for that on her own side of the House. I think she should clarify whether it is indeed Government policy, because she would not say so during yesterday’s exchanges on the urgent question.

[Ms Ghani]

We were talking about Port Talbot and the change to electric arc furnaces there. There is, of course, the DRI hydrogen option, but it will not come online within the time that is required to provide the change from blast to electric arc furnaces. That was a commercial decision taken, with the unions, at Port Talbot. When a technology involving hydrogen is advanced and can be commercialised, that will no doubt become an option, but we are where we are. People might think we can jump from one to another without a transition, but we are providing support for the transition to support jobs in these communities.

I believe I have until 5 o’clock, but that might distress our colleagues. I will conclude, although I am prepared to continue.