Jackdaw and Rosebank Oil and Gas Fields

Richard Baker Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Katie White]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his specific questions. I have not seen the BBC’s report; I would be very happy for him to send it to me. As I said to the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael), Scope 3 emissions will be part of the environmental impact assessment, which will be given to the Secretary of State and will feed into her decision-making process.

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

If Jackdaw and Rosebank proceed, they will create and sustain thousands of skilled jobs and apprenticeships, which will be crucial to developing our renewables sector further in the future. Does the Minister agree that this should be a crucial factor in the decision?

[Katie White]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising the issue of jobs. Since we came into government, we have expanded the North sea jobs service to support workers. He is right that there is a huge crossover between renewables and oil and gas workers. It has struck me that at every wind farm we visit, we usually hear a Scottish accent. As I say, the Secretary of State will be aware of the point he makes about jobs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Baker Excerpts

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Patrick (Wirral West) (Lab)]

9. What steps he is taking to support the development of carbon capture and storage technology.

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

19. What steps he is taking to support the development of carbon capture and storage technology.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband)]

The £21.7 billion of funding to which we committed in October will kick-start the carbon capture, usage and storage industry, supporting thousands of jobs in our industrial heartlands through the east coast and HyNet clusters. We continue to engage with important future projects, such as Acorn in Scotland and Viking in the Humber, and we will make further announcements following the spending review.

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend is entirely right about this. We have learned over the last decade and more that this is the biggest jobs opportunity of the 21st century. Nowhere is that more true than in the investments we are making in carbon capture, usage and storage, and I am confident that my hon. Friend’s constituents will benefit. A couple of weeks ago, the Confederation of British Industry produced an important report that showed that last year, the net zero economy grew three times faster than the economy as a whole. The House should let that sink in, because it tells us that if we turn our back on the net zero economy, we turn our back on business, jobs and investment.

[Richard Baker]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is huge potential for carbon capture and storage to play a key role in our green energy ambitions for Scotland? As we look towards the spending review, does he agree that the Acorn project presents an excellent and efficient opportunity to invest in CCUS, and to reduce the carbon impact of industries across Scotland, because it will repurpose existing pipelines?

[Ed Miliband]

I congratulate my hon. Friend. He is a fantastic advocate for the Acorn project, of which we are hugely supportive. Track 1 projects were agreed in last year’s Budget—a fiscal event, a fiscal moment—and the Government are considering those projects ahead of the next phase of the spending review, which will come in June; but I do not think that anyone doubts the potential value of the Acorn project, not just to Scotland but to the whole United Kingdom.

Rosebank and Jackdaw Oilfields

Richard Baker Excerpts

Monday 10th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

The hon. Gentleman has rightly raised those questions with me on a number of occasions in different debates, and they are incredibly important. Indeed, in a Westminster Hall debate, he educated me on how many off-grid households there are in Northern Ireland—it is a surprisingly high number. The issue of where our oil and gas comes from is also relevant, because they are traded on an international market, and the prices that his constituents and others pay are based on what the fossil fuel market does across the world. Given all the geopolitical uncertainty, we want to get away from fossil fuels as fast as possible and on to renewables, and the hon. Gentleman’s constituents will benefit from that as well.

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that a workforce with skills honed in the North sea oil and gas sector will have an increasingly vital role in the renewables sector? Given the crucial role for GB Energy, headquartered in Aberdeen, in managing a fair and phased transition, is it not extraordinary that the Conservatives and the SNP have failed to support this proposal in this Parliament?

[Michael Shanks]

I agree with my hon. Friend—