Energy Infrastructure: Chinese Companies Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
Pippa Heylings
Main Page: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)Department Debates - View all Pippa Heylings's debates with the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
Energy Infrastructure: Chinese Companies
Pippa Heylings Excerpts(1 week ago)
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Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) for securing this important urgent question. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as the Minister has rightly said, “energy security” has been a key term in this Chamber. There are two ways of looking at energy security. First, it is about generating our own renewable energy to avoid price volatility and exposure to authoritarian regimes, ensuring that we have the jobs here at home for design and construction. Secondly, it is about the national security issues around our energy infrastructure, which is also a form of energy security. A former MI6 chief has warned of the vulnerabilities, either deliberate or inadvertent, posed by foreign-controlled software embedded in our energy infrastructure. Given those serious concerns, can the Minister guarantee that any further investment in Scotland will increase both our energy and our national security?
Kerry McCarthy
As I have said, we are going through the robust processes to try to make absolutely sure that our national security is not compromised by investment from overseas, and we will continue to do that.