John Bercow
Main Page: John Bercow (Speaker - Buckingham)
Chris Huhne
The hon. Gentleman knows that it was precisely because there were very clear differences between the Conservative part of the coalition and the Liberal Democrat part of the coalition that we dealt with that as one of the key issues—we reached agreement on how we would treat it—in the first coalition agreement. We set out very clearly that there will be a framework in which there will be no public subsidy for nuclear, but that if investors come forward with proposals they will without any doubt be able to get them through the House of Commons, as there is a majority on the hon. Gentleman’s side of the House in favour of nuclear power, and the Conservative party is in favour of nuclear power.
I must say that the hon. Gentleman does a slight injustice to my personal position, which has been very clear. As an economist, I am sceptical about the economics of nuclear power, but I recognise that it is entirely up to investors to make that decision. If there is no public subsidy and if investors think that it is worth taking the risk, as they increasingly do, looking forward to rising oil and gas prices and a rising carbon price, they will take those decisions.
Mr Speaker
I am sorry, but I must tell the House that progress is simply too slow. We need snappier questions and snappier answers.
Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)
Will my right hon. Friend reassure the House that he will not be put off building nuclear power stations by exaggerated fears of the dangers of disposing of nuclear waste in one or two sites, especially as those who promote those fears seem to have no doubts about the problems of sequestering CO2 from carbon storage and capture in thousands of sites for thousands of years?
Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)
Can the Secretary of State explain why it was right to give a grant to Nissan to make electric cars—a proposal we support—but wrong to provide a commercial loan to help a British company, Sheffield Forgemasters, to be at the centre of the nuclear supply chain, particularly in light of the admission by the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr Prisk), that £110 million would have come back to the Government from that loan and that the Government would have got extra money if the company had made a profit?
Mr Speaker
The Secretary of State will keep his answer within the confines of nuclear power.
Chris Huhne
The right hon. Gentleman knows that the loan to Sheffield Forgemasters was not a commercial loan. If it had been, it would have been arranged through the banks and not the Government. It was precisely because of the public subsidy element and the fact that that was not affordable that the Government decided not to proceed with it.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
The target will be met at no overall cost to the public purse. Where savings cannot be made through no-cost measures and behavioural change, Departments will be responsible for finding any additional investment in their existing budgets to deliver the Government’s commitment, or using innovative shared saving contracts or similar energy service company—ESCO— arrangements. Showing real leadership in this area is an important part of our plan to be the greenest Government ever and will help us to deliver savings from reduced energy bills, but as I have said, it is only the first step in a long-term strategy to reduce Government emissions and increase efficiency across the whole public sector.
Mr Speaker
Order. I am sorry, but these ministerial answers are simply too long. Something has got to be done for next time. Let us get it right.
Gregg McClymont
In opposition, the coalition parties demanded a 10% reduction year on year in CO2 emissions across the public sector. In government, they now pledge these reductions only across the central Government estate. Why the retreat?
Chris Huhne
We will come forward with a lot more detail on that in the annual energy statement, which the hon. Gentleman will be able to examine for himself, but I assure him, as I said, that the lights will stay on. Inevitably, as new generating capacity comes on stream we will see the margin increase, and as the economy recovers we can expect that margin to shrink. However, he should also bear in mind what is going on with energy saving and, particularly, the development of smart meters and smart grids, whereby in the long run there will be a possibility of, for example, turning off freezers during power peaks, to reduce the need for electricity generation.
Mr Speaker
I gently encourage the Secretary of State to face the House. I understand the natural inclination, but he must face the House and address the House.
Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab)
The Secretary of State’s faith in market solutions is touching—like that of all those with great religious fervour. However, can he give an example of anywhere in the world where the market has actually allocated secure energy supplies?
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne)
I have to say, I thought we had had this question on security of energy supply before.
Mr Speaker
I say to the Secretary of State very gently that that does sometimes happen at Question Time. The fact that something has been raised once has never inhibited several colleagues from wanting to raise it over and over again—nothing new there.
Chris Huhne
Excuse my reluctance to be repetitive, Mr Speaker.
We are determined to increase the UK’s security of supply, for precisely the reasons that I gave in answer to the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi) earlier. Our energy import dependence will increase dramatically over the next 10 years as oil and gas production from the North sea gradually diminishes. We have to work on our renewables and on energy saving to try to ensure that we are energy-secure. One element of that is not just physical security but resilience against price shock.