Topical Questions
06 Jul 2026 · Commons Chamber · 60 speeches · Official record
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The UK’s green economy is worth more than £100 billion a year, and nearly half a trillion pounds in investment is in the pipeline. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that the contracts that his Department provides prioritise British firms and British jobs, so that we can prove our national capabilities and secure our energy? Full speech
T5. Will the Secretary of State consult the devolved regions on the roll-out of small modular reactors, so that all the consumer and job opportunity benefits can be shared right across the whole United Kingdom? Full speech
T3. It was a pleasure to welcome the Minister for Energy to Bellshill for the opening of the new RES maintenance facility last week. RES’ partnership with Scottish Power will support 15 windfarm sites, ensuring clean power for more than 400,000 homes. Does my hon. Friend agree that partnerships like that are important for our energy security, and help to ensure that communities such as Bellshill benefit from skilled industrial jobs? Full speech
We will look at all suggestions, including my hon. Friend’s. We do look at cumulative impact in the planning process, and the strategic spatial energy plan will be very important. Members have raised this before. It is very important to understand the concerns of local people when planning where infrastructure is to be built. Full speech
The hon. Lady could go on all day reading out the things that this Government are already going to do. We want to see much more community ownership, because it matters to us that communities own their future energy, and that people keep the wealth in their communities to invest it in the things that they think are important, because they know their community best. There is a whole series of actions that previous Governments have not taken that would have made that possible. We are going to clear... Full speech
Putin’s war in Ukraine and Trump’s war in Iran have shown us the need to make Britain more resilient against global energy shocks. Can my hon. Friend set out what the Government are doing to ensure that domestic electricity prices are decoupled from global gas prices, so that my constituents can get the best out of cheap, green, local renewables? Full speech
South Crofty in my Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency is approaching the historic restoration of Cornish tin mining, but high energy costs risk the UK losing control of the supply chain in domestic processing and refining. If the Government are serious about building up a sovereign critical minerals supply chain, will the Minister meet me to discuss extending BICS and the industrial supercharger scheme to critical minerals? Full speech
We take those issues seriously across the energy resilience and security piece. It is for individual developers to look at their individual sites and ensure that they comply with the regulations that are in place. We are also looking at what more needs to be done, because the security and resilience of all our energy infrastructure has never been more important. Full speech
I was elected on the back of three clear pledges, one of which was to work to create jobs and prosperity in some of our strongest growing industries. One of those is renewables, which is growing at 20% or so a year-much faster than the wider economy. In Cornwall, we are doing a great job at renewables. What steps is the Minister taking to help us to create those great jobs in Cornwall? Full speech
Will the Minister acknowledge that the highlands and islands produce a disproportionately large amount of our renewable energy? Will he also acknowledge that last week’s Ofgem go-ahead for three pumped storage schemes will produce almost no jobs, no legacy housing and no community benefits, along with minimal, if any, advantage to the highlands of Scotland? Full speech
The cost of heating oil remains a major concern for many residents in the Borders, particularly as families plan for the autumn and winter. The Government promised to cut energy bills by £300, yet since they took office, bills have risen by £300. What more will the Government do to support households in rural communities who rely on heating oil to keep warm? Full speech
I will share details of that with the hon. Lady. We are also undertaking the cost allocation review, which deals with those issues. Full speech
I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s question, because the situation facing families who use heating oil has been significant since the Iran war started. That is why we made money available, including to the Scottish Government, to help families in particular hardship. We have also increased the help available through the boiler upgrade scheme for those families using heating oil. I continue to discuss what more we can do with colleagues across Government. Full speech
There is so much innovation going on in my constituency for floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea, including by companies such as Reflex Marine, but we need the test and demo models up in the Celtic sea to test the technology. The contracts for difference in the next auction will be crucial for offshore wind in the Celtic sea. Will the Minister commit to recognising that in future auction rounds? Full speech
According to the press, the Secretary of State is applying for a new job, which means that he must be in need of references. Who will he ask first: the trade unions, who are calling for him to be sacked; the public, who have faced a £300 rise in their energy bills on his watch; or the oil and gas workers, who roundly rejected him at the recent by-election in Aberdeen? Full speech
My hon. Friend knows how eagerly I am anticipating the return of tin production in Cornwall-I want it just as much as him and his colleagues. I would be happy to meet him to see how South Crofty and the rest of the Cornish industry can benefit from the Government’s schemes. Full speech
I commend my hon. Friend and his constituents for their enthusiasm for the warm homes plan. They can already access grants through the warm homes plan, and they will soon be able to receive loans. Full speech
Order. I think you played that one through earlier. Full speech
The truth is that we all face a choice on the future of our energy system. Do we learn the lessons of history-of two fossil-fuel crises in five years, as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Iran war-and say that we want energy sovereignty with clean, home-grown power that we control, or do we not? We have made our choice. Full speech
Third-party brokers will rightly be regulated through the energy independence Bill, but the market is complex, and time-poor business owners still find it hard to find the right deal. Is the Secretary of State willing to explore measures to standardise business energy bills, and will he look at new data rights under smart data powers, so that small and medium-sized enterprise owners can take back control? Full speech
The hon. Gentleman makes a really important point. I am happy to give that undertaking. We want to see the opportunities around SMRs throughout the United Kingdom. I am happy to discuss that with him. Full speech
T7. The Government recently shelved plans to require solar panels on new car parks, despite the significant potential to generate clean electricity, support electric vehicle charging and provide greater shade cover. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact of abandoning those proposals on the Government’s clean power and net zero ambitions? Full speech
The hon. Gentleman raises an important issue. The way to get bills down is to drive for clean energy, which the Conservatives oppose. Why have bills gone up in the last few months? Because of the Iran war. [ Interruption. ] They know that they have gone up because of the Iran war- Full speech
Regarding contracts for difference, will the Government now consider moving from a 100% revenue guarantee model to a partial coverage model, along the lines of what Australia now has? Full speech
That is something we take incredibly seriously. We are an energy policy and industrial policy Department. We have made progress on that and are determined to make further progress. Full speech
My hon. Friend raises an important issue about the treatment of businesses. I am sure that there is more to do on brokers. We will look at his suggestions. Full speech
My local community energy company, which is run by volunteers, is incredibly keen to get solar panels on the roofs of local public buildings, but we are really struggling to get the permissions we need from the local authority to proceed with two schools. They missed the easter installation window, and have now missed the window for this summer. Does the Minister agree that we need this to hurry up? Full speech
On heating oil, the Scottish National party Government boasted that they would add £5.4 million to the £4.6 million the UK Government gave to domestic consumers. However, there is scant evidence that that is reaching my constituents in the Western Isles, which have the highest fuel poverty figures in the country. Will the Minister join me in encouraging constituents to apply for support? Will he ask the Scottish Government to broaden the criteria and Advice Direct Scotland to get that money out ... Full speech
Private companies looking to deploy new nuclear at Oldbury will need to address skills shortages, particularly around roles such as welding. When assessing proposals for the site, how will Ministers ensure developers invest in skills so that local people can benefit from the jobs created? Full speech
Business energy costs are a significant barrier, holding British business back from being competitive on the world stage. Has the Secretary of State done any analysis of the potential GDP growth from reducing business energy costs and getting British businesses moving? Full speech
Yes, I completely agree. I am sure that if my hon. Friend’s local authority is listening, it will hurry up and make those decisions. We also want the process to be more standardised across the country, so that community projects like hers can learn from others who have done the same, and so that we can speed up the whole process. Full speech
We think the contracts for difference model is a good one. We want to get on with opening the auction, and we continue to look at all these issues. Full speech
The framework provided by having a clear sense of mission, through the Clean Power 2030 action plan and the Climate Change Act 2008, is crucial. That is why we have the £100 billion of private investment. We are going to carry on doing it. Full speech
I pay tribute to the work my hon. Friend is doing for her constituents on this issue. The most effective way to decouple our electricity prices from gas is to expand our renewable generation. Every wind turbine we turn on and every solar panel that we deploy helps to push gas off as the price-setter. We will continue to work in this way. Full speech
Let us look at the facts: bills went down £500 under me, but they have gone up £300 under him. The Secretary of State said that he has raked in investment, but that is because he has promised that consumers will pay sky-high prices to wind developers for decades to come. He is decimating British industry. Great British Energy is a complete flop. Is not the truth that the only reason he wants an out from this job is so that someone else has to clean up the mess that he is leaving behind? Full speech
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities. Full speech
Just this year, Norway has opened up a licensing round for 70 new oil and gas blocks. It is reopening three old gas fields and has permitted development plans for three new fields. Meanwhile, this Government are still banning licences, taxing the industry out of business and not permitting Rosebank and Jackdaw. Why does the Secretary of State think he is right and our Norwegian friends are wrong? Full speech
The Government have worked with Ofgem to bring forward low or no standing charge schemes, which are supposedly open for trial. I cannot find them and neither can my residents. The access to those schemes is so small, so what are the Government doing to make them available to more people now? Full speech
The Government have stressed the importance of energy independence, sovereignty and security. How concerned are they that it is difficult to pin down, as we have tried to do, exactly how many, and what percentage, of the wind turbines in this country are produced in China, considering that a thousand of them were recently discovered to have been manufactured using asbestos? Full speech
I think the hon. Member is talking not just about what will happen at Wylfa, but all the other routes to market that are happening, including advanced modular reactors and other technology. I can honestly say to him that we have massive enthusiasm from a whole range of private sector companies, and we are driving that forward at pace. Full speech
First, just to be clear, we are not abandoning at all the idea that we should put solar on as many car parks as possible and encourage the creation of car ports, so that there can be solar panels on the roof. That is brilliant, and we should see much more of that. We consulted on whether there should be one mandatory solution for the whole country, and the consultation responses, which we take heed of, suggested that was not the right way to go. That does not mean at all that we are not hugely a... Full speech
British businesses were suffering from high energy costs as a direct result of the previous Government’s policy to tie us to fossil fuels. The things that we have done-lifting the onshore wind ban, investing in offshore wind and rolling out solar and nuclear-will bring down energy costs in the long term, but we need to do something now. That is why we have increased the benefit on our supercharger scheme. We have rolled out the British industrial competitiveness scheme starting next year, but th... Full speech
Last night, Members of this House passed regulations to crack down on rogue landfill operators. Does the Minister agree that no public payments should be made to a landfill gas energy provider when that provider is linked to rogue landfill operations? Full speech
I love Bellshill, and it was a pleasure to visit the other day to see this fantastic facility opening just across my constituency boundary. More than 300 wind turbines are being maintained and operated from the facility. That is a good example showing that the clean energy mission is about not just the renewables being deployed, but the jobs that go with it in communities like my hon. Friend’s. Full speech
T8. Year 7 students from Ranelagh school in Bracknell have written to me as part of the Creative for Climate Justice Project. As well as sharing some incredible artwork and poetry, they wrote that the impacts of climate change are already visible, and that we should act now to avoid irreversible damage. Does my hon. Friend agree? Will she assure those students that the Government heed their call for action? Full speech
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson. Full speech
T9. In this House, I have long championed rolling out small modular nuclear reactors, so the decision on Wylfa is welcome, despite the fact that we could have a full-scale nuclear power station and an SMR there. Will the Secretary of State announce the sites that will be used in further roll-out, so that is settled in the community and we can get that nuclear power on to the grid? Full speech
When it comes to local and community energy, we welcome the investment by Great British Energy, and the local power plan. However, the Liberal Democrats pushed to get community energy in the Great British Energy Act 2025, because we knew that there were hurdles beyond investment, as pointed out by my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse), who is on the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee. We have been waiting for over a year to hear about this. The Minister has said that the Governm... Full speech
My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. We will write to her with a good answer. Full speech
First, we are delighted to be building the first long-duration energy storage in Britain in 40 years, including pumped hydro storage projects that will help us store renewable energy for when we need it. Secondly, there will be local benefits from that and I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman’s point about jobs. These are big construction projects and there will be jobs relating to running them afterwards. However, I will look further at his point on community benefits, because the community s... Full speech
T6. During the election, the Government promised to cut bills by £300; in fact, they have gone up by £300. With that level of financial acumen, the Secretary of State will fit right in, in his new job at the Treasury, but my constituents and local businesses want their bills cut now, not at some nebulous point in the future. When he gets to the Treasury, will he remove the taxes on our energy industry, to ensure that bills actually come down? Full speech
In the two years since July 2024, this Government have secured renewable power for the equivalent of 23 million homes, invested in the biggest nuclear building programme in half a century, started to deliver the biggest investment in warm homes in our country’s history, taken £150 off energy bills and shown global climate leadership. I am proud that we are delivering on our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, so that we get lower bills and good jobs, and protect future generations... Full speech
I am incredibly proud of our record over the last two years. This Government have delivered the biggest investment in warm homes in our history, broken records on renewables, and secured over £100 billion of private sector investment. We have the biggest nuclear-building programme in a generation, and a plan for 400,000 new clean energy jobs. All the shadow Secretary of State had to show for her time in office was the trashing of our clean energy industries; there was no nuclear power delivered,... Full speech
That is exactly the reason we published our clean energy jobs plan, which identifies the demand for clean energy jobs in different parts of the country. We have also invested, through our clean energy technical excellence colleges in different parts of the country, to ensure that those skills will be available. Full speech
I suspect that in the coming days England fans will learn a lot from Norway in something else. On the serious point that the hon. Member raises, we should first recognise that Norway took a different approach to extraction from the North sea 60 years ago, and it has continued to do that over its 60 years of extraction from the North sea. Secondly, we are not turning off the taps in the North sea. We have said that we will introduce transitional energy certificates to allow new production tied ba... Full speech
My hon. Friend is right that more people need to claim the support that is on offer, and I encourage them to do that in his constituency and across Scotland. My understanding is that just over £1 million of the £10 million in the fund has been distributed. Full speech
I thank my hon. Friend-another fantastic speaker in the carbon budget debate the week before last-and Ranelagh school students for presenting their ideas. They are not alone; this issue is raised at most schools that we visit, and we have to reassure students that the Government are taking action at international, national and local level. It is important that their voices are heard, which is why we are launching a youth scheme in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Full speech
T2. The Secretary of State will know that there is no legal duty for energy developers to co-ordinate when they are developing in the same area or place, or at the same time. In Suffolk Coastal, Europe’s largest energy project is being developed right now, alongside four other nationally significant energy infrastructure projects. Will the Government consider giving Ofgem more power to enforce co-ordination, so that people, communities and the environment do not suffer needlessly when developers... Full speech
Yes. We love Cornwall; we love the potential of what it can provide in terms of floating wind. My hon. Friend states her case incredibly well. Full speech
T4. The £15 billion warm homes plan is brilliant, because it will lift 1 million people out of fuel poverty and, as we are seeing in this heatwave, keep households cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. While that is being set up, what are the Government doing in the short term to bring down energy bills? Full speech