Carbon Capture Usage and Storage

Debate between Stephen Kerr and Baroness Winterton of Doncaster

Thursday 25th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kerr (Stirling) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Redcar (Anna Turley) on her statement. I too am a member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, and I take some pride in the report. I think it offers an exciting opportunity for the United Kingdom in what will be an ever-expanding global market for this technology. My question is based on a summary statement in the report:

“The greatest barriers to the development of CCUS in the UK are commercial, rather than technical.”

I think that is true. There is a massive opportunity for Scotland in this technology, which is why I am surprised that not a single member of the SNP’s parliamentary party has turned up for the statement—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. The idea is to have fairly brief questions and answers, because we have a lot of business to get through this afternoon.

[Stephen Kerr]

My question is really quite simple. There is a commercial barrier and it relates to the business model. Requiring a single business to finance the capture, transport and storage of carbon will greatly increase the cost of carbon dioxide stored, so what can the Government do to enable the development of viable business models for CCUS?

Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism

Debate between Stephen Kerr and Baroness Winterton of Doncaster

Tuesday 19th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kerr]

rose—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. I strongly urge the hon. Member for Stirling (Stephen Kerr) to return to the motion before us.

[Stephen Kerr]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I would like to conclude my remarks if I may by referring back to the comments of the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) when he responded to my intervention about social media. I feel very strongly that the time has come for social media companies, with all their resources, to do something more than they have been doing in this area. For too long, too much has gone on to those platforms without appropriate intervention. I feel very strongly that they are things that we would not permit to be published in mainstream, traditional, and old-fashioned material. Why on earth would we turn a blind eye to it when it is on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or whatever? There are other social platforms as well. The Minister’s statement has brought home again the importance of dealing with that issue. I know that the Government are dealing with it and that they are stepping up their discussions with these social media companies. I appreciate that much is improving and changing, but, again, I am reminded today that perhaps for too long we have been guilty of that traditional British virtue of being too tolerant about some things for which, really, there must be zero tolerance.