Mark Durkan
Main Page: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Mr Hayes
Let me repeat what I said earlier, because amplification is necessary, given the hon. Gentleman’s question—I note that he was the person who raised this matter with the Prime Minister yesterday. We want to use the Energy Bill to get people the lowest tariffs—it is as plain as that.
Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)
It is right to say that the strategy of having no strategy cannot go on, but are pop-up policies either workable or worthy as an answer?
Mr Hayes
The development of the strategy is challenging. Putting aside what can sometimes be excessively political partisan banter, the Government and the Opposition know that it is essential to put in place a strategy that works. We are planning for a period of between 20 and 60 years, depending on how we measure the lifetime of the types of different generating resource in which we are looking to encourage investment. The issue requires a large degree of consensus across this House, and I hope that I will be able to work to deliver that, in order to ensure that the strategy that the hon. Gentleman describes is meaningful. That is a challenge, but it is one that we must meet, in the national interest.