Electricity Infrastructure: Rural Communities

Michael Shanks Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2025 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for Energy (Michael Shanks)]

I thank the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) for securing this debate. I have a huge amount of respect for him. He and I sparred at Scotland Office questions when we faced each other from different places in the Chamber. I genuinely take these issues seriously. In his list of quotes, I do not think he will find one in which I have dismissed community concerns. I have said repeatedly in Parliament that I take community concerns seriously, and I have met MPs from across the House to talk about these issues. I have probably had more meetings on these issues than previous Ministers have, so I do take them seriously, but they have to be balanced with ensuring that we are building infrastructure for the country’s future. That balance is difficult, and I will get into that throughout my speech, but I challenge the idea that I do not take these issues seriously, or that I do not respect his constituents’ views, because I do.

I will start with two points on which we agree, and then go on to answer some of the hon. Gentleman’s specific points. First, and most importantly, I will pick up on the point that he and the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) made about the role of nuclear, which we should not forget has a hugely important role in our future energy mix. We are extremely ambitious about the role of nuclear and have announced funding for projects across the UK, but unfortunately not in Scotland at this stage. I genuinely hope that position changes soon, because there is huge potential.

A few weeks ago, I visited Torness nuclear power station, which the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk mentioned. I met the workforce, some of whom have been working there for decades. It is long-term, good, well-paid employment, and there is an opportunity on that site to look at the future of new modular reactors. I hope we will have that opportunity, but the SNP Government block us from even considering sites in Scotland at the moment. I hope that will change.

[Jamie Stone]

Is that not ridiculous, given that at Dounreay we have a skilled workforce, a fully licensed site and a local population that would warmly support new nuclear?

[Michael Shanks]

It is entirely ridiculous; the hon. Member is absolutely right. The thing about nuclear is that it often builds communities around it that respect the role it plays in the energy mix. Generations of people have worked at these power stations—they often start as apprentices and are still there decades later—so we do not disagree on that point. We should be building nuclear in Scotland, and I hope the SNP either loses in May so that we can change the position, or that the SNP changes its position. There are no SNP Members here today to answer that point.

The second point on which I agree with the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is the role of rooftop solar. We will be saying much more about that, but in the solar road map, we are clear that we should be building on every rooftop possible. It is a no-brainer, and there is support right across the country for it. Wherever we can put solar panels on rooftops—warehouses, car parks, supermarkets and so on—we should. That is why, in England, we have been funding schools and hospitals to do so. We would have liked to do it in Scotland as well, but once again the Scottish Government did not want to partner with us on that project, so it is for them to take that forward.

I will now reflect on what we are trying to achieve, because it is important not to forget the overall ambition for where our energy system needs to be. Every piece of infrastructure that we build across the country, whether it is wind turbines, solar panels or network infrastructure, is critical to protecting this country from future price spikes, like those that have hit households so much.

However, on infrastructure and the network in particular, there is a wider question about decades of under-investment in our grid, which has been holding back not just our energy system from working as we would want but economic growth. I gently challenge the hon. Gentleman’s points on AI and data centres. I understand the challenge they present, but they are also a huge economic opportunity. Right across the country, we are seeing good economic growth prospects being closed down because we do not have the grid connections that would allow them to be switched on. They are going to other countries as a result, so we need to fix this issue.

Delivering any infrastructure, whether it is energy, prisons or hospitals, involves tough choices, trade-offs and local impacts. That is precisely why we have a robust planning system. It is not a cop-out to say that I am not responsible for planning decisions in Scotland, and the hon. Gentleman knows that. It is for the Scottish Government to answer for the planning and consenting decisions they have made in Scotland, but every individual project is assessed independently and fairly through the Scottish planning system for proposals in Scotland.

If there are specific points about consultations not being done effectively, I am very happy to receive correspondence on that from the hon. Gentleman. It is for the Scottish Government, as part of their planning process, to follow that through, but I am happy to facilitate the exchange of that information.

[Wendy Morton]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) (LD)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Michael Shanks]

I will just finish this point, as I have very brief time. It is right that the consultation is genuine and that people have a voice in what happens. I will give way very briefly, but I have only four minutes.

[Mike Martin]

In Wales, companies such as Bute Energy and Green GEN Cymru, which are both owned by Windward Energy Ltd, are prompting local concerns that the rules separating electricity generation and distribution are being undermined by corporate restructuring tricks. Is the Minister confident that Ofgem’s rules will deliver operational independence?

[Michael Shanks]

I am, and I am always happy to have more conversations with Ofgem about its regulatory role. If the hon. Gentleman has specific things he wants to raise, I am happy to follow up. I will not give way again, as we have very short time.

While it is absolutely right that communities should have a voice in this, should be able to scrutinise planning applications, should be able to object and should be able to understand how those objections affect the proposals, it is also right that we recognise as a country that we have to build infrastructure and that it has to be built somewhere. That is vital for our energy security and for the future of our country.

The grid has suffered from decades of under-investment. The legacy means we are constraining the amount of cheap, clean power we have in our system. Upgrading and expanding the electricity grid is not optional. The reason I challenge some of what the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk said earlier is because a number of his proposals were not in the previous Government’s plan for the future of the energy grid. It was the previous Government who said that we need a great British grid upgrade, and they outlined many of the plans that are now being delivered across the country. Undergrounding was not a feature of those plans either.

It is critical that our current grid, which was largely built in the 1960s and was not designed to handle the type of power generation or electricity demand we have now, is upgraded. In 2023, the previous Government estimated that four times as much transmission infrastructure would need to be built by the end of the decade as had been built by 1990. This is not a Labour Government plan; it is the previous Conservative Government’s plan.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned the role of NESO, and I want to reflect on the point that he and other hon. Members rightly make that strategically planning the future of our energy system has been a significant failure. The truth is that decades ago, under the previous Labour and Conservative Governments, we should have more holistically planned the future of our energy system to make sure we get the most out of it, and to make sure that we are building the least possible amount of network infrastructure. That work was not done, so NESO is now leading the strategic spatial energy plan to make sure that, across the country, we have a holistic view of what our future energy system should look like.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Michael Shanks]

I will not give way; sorry.

That will also include a centralised network plan so that we have a network that fits generation across the country, and so that we build as little as possible while still getting the most out of the energy system.

In the minute or two I have left, I want to say that we recognise the point about community benefits. Because of the network infrastructure, electricity is flowing through communities that do not necessarily understand the benefit they get from it. First, cheaper power in the system brings down everyone’s bills, so it is in all of our interest. Secondly, we have recognised the problem, which is why we have introduced community benefits for households directly affected by transmission infrastructure—the first time we have done that as a country. There is money off bills for people who have infrastructure in their locality, and there are also community benefits for substations and other infrastructure. That is currently commonplace for onshore wind and solar, but not for network infrastructure. We want to change that so there is a direct benefit from this infrastructure.

We need to be honest about the scale of the challenge we face as a country. We cannot meet future electricity demand without building grid infrastructure. I am sorry to say that means it has to be built somewhere. There is no magical third place where we can build infrastructure. We want to work with communities to make sure it is done with them, wherever possible, and so they benefit from it, but ultimately the whole country benefits when we have a functioning grid that delivers cheap, clean, secure electricity to people’s homes and businesses.

I have 20 seconds left, but I am very happy to meet the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, as I am genuinely happy to meet Members on both sides of the House. It is important that we do this with communities. I want to hear their concerns and questions. That does not mean it will always be possible to do exactly what every community wants, but I am happy to have those conversations. I thank the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk for securing this debate.

Question put and agreed to.