Draft Contracts for Difference (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2025

On 11 June 2025, MPs voted to approve the Draft Contracts for Difference (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2025, passing by 350 votes to 176. The regulations extend the contracts-for-difference subsidy scheme (a mechanism that guarantees electricity generators a fixed price per megawatt-hour) to cover large-scale biomass electricity generation until 2031, at a strike price of £160 per megawatt-hour. The vote advances government support for biomass power generation as part of its energy security strategy, at an estimated cost of over £500 million annually to consumers and taxpayers. The regulations do not finalise any specific contract; the government stated that commercial negotiations and internal assessments are still ongoing. However, critics argued the regulations clear the legal path for a subsidy extension before scrutiny is complete, since the Subsidy Advice Unit had only been asked for its assessment the previous Friday and was not due to report until 10 July 2025. Labour MPs voted almost unanimously in favour, with 310 Labour and 34 Labour and Co-operative members supporting the regulations and only one Labour and Co-operative MP voting against. Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, the SNP, Reform UK, Plaid Cymru, the Greens, and the DUP all voted against. The vote reflects a notable cross-party alliance of opposition parties on environmental and fiscal grounds, though their combined numbers were insufficient to defeat the government's majority.