Energy Update Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Stephanie Peacock
Main Page: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)Department Debates - View all Stephanie Peacock's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
(2 years, 2 months ago)
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Greg Hands
I thank my hon. Friend for that contribution. Schools are certainly at the forefront of our thinking for the coming winter. She is right that we need to make sure that schools are properly supported, and there are lessons to be learned from the pandemic as to how that was done. I am sure that her words will be well heard by Ministers, HM Treasury and the Department for Education.
Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)
A year ago I asked the Government why they had closed the Rough gas storage facility off the Yorkshire coast, leaving the UK with just 1.7% of storage for annual demand. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the right hon. Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng), told me that the question was irrelevant, and accused me of inducing panic and stoking alarm. Given the reports that the Government are to U-turn and reopen the facility, will the Minister now admit that the closure was a mistake?
Greg Hands
The closure was a commercial decision, made by Centrica, not a decision made by the Government.