Great British Energy Bill

Lord Naseby Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 18th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

My Lords, we know that the challenges of the age can be met only by energy. We have before us the vehicle to achieve that objective: Great British Energy. Of course, a fair number of questions have been raised in the other place and this afternoon, particularly about the relationships with the other energy corporations and agencies. I will not get involved in that; I do not want to duplicate those questions. Although many of them are valid, the situation we face calls for an independent vehicle such as the one we are debating in the Bill. In historical terms, looking at the state of our railways and comparing them with those on the continent of Europe, where they are all nationalised, I think for once that we need again to look at the success Europe has had in not dissimilar circumstances.

I will raise four points to look at in more detail in Committee, partially because some of them came up many years ago when I was on the energy Select Committee in the other place. The one that did not come up then was hydrogen, on which we just heard some wise words. I have had a meeting with the boilermakers’ union, which knows exactly what was put in when almost all gas domestic heating was put in. That was done highly successfully over many years. Work has been done on hydrogen mixed with gas. The indication is that it is successful and that all that needs to change is the burner to the boilers. If that is the situation, it would save huge sums of money for the infrastructure for heating the vast majority of the homes in the United Kingdom. Yes, certain areas will need heat pumps, but no way can heat pumps ever overtake this opportunity for domestic heating at this point in time. That means we need to look at the definition of clean energy in the Bill. I will put down an amendment to that effect.

Secondly, there has been much discussion about small modular reactors, which is absolutely right. I had discussions with Rolls-Royce two and a half years ago, when it claimed it was just about ready to go forward. It is not the present Government’s fault but, if Rolls-Royce was ready then, I cannot understand why there was no decision. I asked questions of my noble friends on the Front Bench on that when we were in government, and we still do not have a decision. I say to the Minister: if I and, more importantly, Rolls-Royce are right, let us please have a decision on that.

Thirdly, I have had some talks with and briefings from the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association. I hope very much that the Minister has had the same. If he has not then I would be delighted to hand over the briefing I received, but I am sure he has had it. Therefore, I do not need to go into great detail, but it raised five areas that I think should all be looked at very carefully.

Fourthly, the area that nobody has raised, as far as I know—and I have been sitting here all afternoon—is the situation in small countries around the world. We have a Commonwealth and our own small-country groupings. We need to recognise that we must help them deal with their problems, which will not be similar to ours in most cases. We should be considerate and understanding. After all, the Commonwealth is a family, and we should help them in that relationship.

The Bill is a good one, as far as I can see. As I said, I will put down some amendments, but I wish the Government well. It is so important that this is successful and I will do my best to help it on its way.