Draft Contracts for Difference (Definition of Eligible Generator) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
House of Commons · General Committees · 7 Jul 2026 · 31 speeches · Official Report
The Committee consisted of the following Members:
Chair: Pete Wishart
† Baxter, Johanna (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)
† Bowie, Andrew (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)
† Carling, Sam (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)
† Cross, Harriet (Gordon and Buchan) (Con)
† Downie, Graeme (Dunfermline and Dollar) (Lab)
† Grady, John (Glasgow East) (Lab)
† Hatton, Lloyd (South Dorset) (Lab)
† Heylings, Pippa (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)
† Lamb, Peter (Crawley) (Lab)
† Poynton, Gregor (Livingston) (Lab)
† Reader, Mike (Northampton South) (Lab)
† Rhodes, Martin (Glasgow North) (Lab)
† Shah, Naz (Bradford West) (Lab)
† Shanks, Michael (Minister for Energy)
† Thomas, Bradley (Bromsgrove) (Con)
† Williamson, Sir Gavin (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)
Young, Claire (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)
Danni Kinder, Stella-Marie Gabriel, Committee Clerks
† attended the Committee
Third Delegated Legislation Committee
Tuesday 7 July 2026
[Pete Wishart in the Chair ]
Draft Contracts for Difference (Definition of Eligible Generator) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
The Chair
Before I call the Minister, I invite Gentleman Members to yourselves of your jackets if you feel so inclined in this hot weather. I call the Minister.
I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Contracts for Difference (Definition of Eligible Generator) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. Thank you, Mr Wishart. Not willing to be half jacket on, half jacket off during my speech, I will continue as I am at the moment, but it is a genuine pleasure to serve under your chairship for the first time. The contracts for difference scheme is the Government’s primary way to incentivise low-carbon capacity in the electricity system. The draft regulations change the scheme’s eligibility criteria to include the lifetime extension of nuclear plants. Nuclear power is expected to play a key role in the UK’s future energy system. By generating baseload power in the UK, nuclear energy can complement renewable sources, helping to maintain price stability for consumers and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. It also lessens our reliance on imports from overseas, strengthening our energy security. However, the UK’s present operational nuclear fleet, including the four advanced gas cooled reactors and Sizewell B, the UK’s only pressurised water reactor, are due to begin decommissioning in the coming decades; this means that around 15% of our current electricity generating capacity could be lost by 2035. While the Government continue to take forward the wider nuclear programme through Sizewell C and through the Great British Energy nuclear small modular reactor programme, we should also make sure that suitable mechanisms are...
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Wishart, and not for the first time. It brings me back to those happy, heady days of the Scottish Affairs Committee 2021-22, when it was a joy to serve under your chairmanship. Using the powers designated under the Energy Act 2013 to amend the contracts for difference regulations, as the Minister eloquently set out, this instrument brings lifespan extension for nuclear power generators into scope for contracts for difference. Last year, France approved extending the lifespan of 20 nuclear reactors to 50 years. The UK, by contrast, extended the lifespans of advanced gas-cooled reactors Heysham 1 and Hartlepool until 2028, and Heysham 2 and Torness to 2030. That is welcome, but as our nuclear fleet ages, it will be necessary to extend the lifespan of existing nuclear power by considerably more. The stable baseload and clean power are essential to our energy mix, and we support extensions to keep this reliable generation on our system. The Department’s note on this instrument acknowledges that the existing nuclear fleet provides “a significant proportion of firm, low-carbon electricity generation, contributing to energy security and system resilience”. I could not agree more, which is why as the nuclear Minister in the last Conservative Government, I announced our intention to build a new nuclear power station at Wylfa-a project which this Government have effectively cancelled; in addition, their lack of commitment to new...
The Liberal Democrats support extending eligibility for contracts for difference so that existing nuclear generating stations can obtain those contracts. Building new large-scale nuclear in the UK suffers from spiralling costs and has been bogged down by serious delays, so we recognise the importance of extending the operational life of existing assets. To meet our climate targets and strengthen our energy security, it is important to make the most of our existing infrastructure and these investments, and so rely less on imported fossil fuels. Many of the respondents to the Government’s consultation expressed their support in principle for the proposed amendment, citing the benefits to our energy security, system resilience, affordability and decarbonisation. Any future contracts for difference awarded to large-scale nuclear must be awarded at competitive prices and be value for money for consumers. Beyond this, it is also vital we continue to invest in renewables, in SMR research and development, and in CfDs for green technology, to ensure we get low energy bills, strengthen our energy security and do our part to tackle the climate crisis.
I repeat these points regularly, but the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, often talks about his party’s “intention to do”, “ambition to do”, “we aimed to do”, but in 14 years the Conservatives did nothing to build any new nuclear, and that is the record he has to defend. Intention is all well and good, but delivery is what this Government are focused on. We have not ruled out new gigawatt-scale nuclear, but we want to look at it in the context of the future system. That is partly about what the strategic spatial energy plan looks like, but it is also about learning from the deployment of small modular and advanced modular reactors, which we will roll out in due course, and things like the measures we have taken to produce a new regulatory framework, so that we get private sector interest in building nuclear-the Centrica X-energy project in Hartlepool being a good example. It is possible we will have a much more developed approach and innovation in shaping the future nuclear fleet; it might not require a gigawatt-scale project, but we have not ruled it out and it continues to be something we will consider. The hon. Gentleman asked about the CfD itself. As I said, this set of regulations before us today does not agree to any particular CfD, but he is right to point out the value for money point. Any specific contract we looked at would be subject to subsidy control regulations, assessing first of all whether that support is absolutely...
Committee rose.