Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Timms Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his question. We are very mindful of community consent and engagement with the planning process through consultation periods. We are also ensuring that the planning regime is robust. On balance, it was felt that we needed to make a move on this pot 1 auction in order to reach the target.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

10. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on ending UK export finance for (a) coal-mining and (b) coal-fired power station projects; and if he will make a statement.

[The Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth (Kwasi Kwarteng)]

The right hon. Gentleman will know that we have announced, with the Department for International Trade, that we will no longer provide any new export finance or new export credit for thermal coalmining or coal-powered plants overseas.

[Stephen Timms]

I am grateful to the Minister for that confirmation. Following the Prime Minister’s announcement at the UK-Africa investment summit, will the Minister set out whether there is going to be a transition period prior to the welcome situation that he has described? Does he agree that UK Export Finance should be promoting the transition away from all fossil fuels in developing countries as soon as possible?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Any form of financing should absolutely take into account our net zero commitment, and it is in the process of doing so. On the question of coal, I take the opportunity to reiterate the fact that the Prime Minister, only last month, announced the intention to consult on bringing forward the coal closure to 1 October 2024. Even last month, only about 3% of our power generation was coming from coal. So this is a very achievable target, and we are very hopeful that we can take coal entirely off the grid by October 2024.