National Energy System Operator: Blackout Risk

Lizzi Collinge Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

I think we are probably speaking at cross-purposes. I suspect that when the shadow Secretary of State refers to blackouts, she means a national power outage rather than supply disruption, which does happen. I cannot give a guarantee that there will never be some supply disruption, because there are faults in the system and things will occur, which can lead to a temporary loss of supply. If the hon. Gentleman refers to a recurring issue, I am very happy to work with him so that we can make sure that the local DNO or the transmission owner is looking at particular faults. If he writes to me with the details, I will follow up.

[Lizzi Collinge (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)]

These are very serious allegations. It is right that they are investigated independently, and I think all of us urge NESO to have full candour. Grid stability is really important, and the recent heatwave shows the challenges that climate change brings and the importance of our clean energy transition. Does the Minister agree that nuclear plays a vital role in providing stable baseload energy and supporting grid stability?