Tom Blenkinsop
Main Page: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)(13 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Gregory Barker
We recently launched “Community Energy Online”, which demonstrates to communities and local authorities the easy steps that can be taken to benefit from the range of schemes and initiatives that DECC has already launched and will launch in the future. I encourage people to look at this online initiative, which is easy to access. If my hon. Friend has any feedback about it, I would be delighted to hear it.
Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)
How does the Secretary of State intend to help the chemical and steel industries and other manufacturers of energy-intensive products, which will be less able to compete globally or even within the EU in response to his proposals for electricity market reforms and CO2 floor prices?
Charles Hendry
The hon. Gentleman raises an extremely important issue. We have to be careful not to have carbon leakage and to ensure that the measures put in place in this country do not drive British manufacturing jobs abroad. That is why there is cross-co-ordination between DECC, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Treasury to make sure that we fully understand any knock-on implications and avoid any such unintended consequences: it is critical to keep those manufacturing jobs in Britain.