Speeches by Esterson.

“There was a lot of controversy about Drax in particular, which is a significant part of our energy generation. How are you assessing projects’ lifecycle emissions to make sure they are carbon-neutral for their full life?”

“I want to pick up on this point about hard to abate. You mentioned cement and lime. There is a proposal for Peak cluster, which would involve a pipeline from the Peak district. You also mentioned south Wales and the use of shipping. Those are not track 1 or track 2 at the moment, but where are you with your thinking on…”

“Sure, but I feel we are struggling to pin you down on a whole host of things here. That is in the nature of the fact that this is first-of-a-kind technology, I think, but there has been so much uncertainty all the way through the discussions we have had this morning. How can you give confidence to our constituents that…”

“I am glad you said that. I asked earlier about 20 million tonnes in 28 years, but we need to do 20 million tonnes a year. It is a completely different scale.”

“That is helpful. Is there a plan B, if this does not work? Because 2030 is not very far away—2050 is not very far away, actually.”

“Unfortunately, I feel like we are going to get the same answer every time to every question.”

“I am grateful for the further clarification on that point. I would like to ask you about staffing risks. There is a lot of risk in everything involved in this discussion. You have identified capability and capacity issues for the Department and for regulators. I think that, as of April 2024, you said you needed 31 extr…”

“It was just months ago.”

“Yes, and if you did have significant gaps in your resourcing and in your staffing, what would be the implication for progress in the programme?”

“One final question from me. Yes, it is a hypothetical question—I think that has been the nature of this morning's discussion, frankly. Is it fair to say that it is a significant risk if you do not fill those gaps?”

“We got an answer.”

“The last Government promised to give more contracts through procurement to small businesses, but failed to do so for 14 years. Instead, they chose to use Government contracting to support their mates through covid. Will the Minister confirm that this Government will use the power of Government spending to contract dire…”

“11. What steps he is taking to reform public procurement.”

“The shadow Chancellor was touring the TV studios this morning to say that the Conservative party did nothing wrong in government. Will my hon. Friend confirm that the reason for the changes to national insurance is precisely to plug the £22 billion gap that the Conservatives caused and to ensure that our constituents c…”

“It is the importance of the fabric first approach. Of course, you have just advocated potentially putting extra—I did say it was the last question. I was not telling the truth, of course. If we move the levies off electric bills, but you also want us to use less gas, what happens there?”

“Thanks very much, Chair, for asking me to take part as the Chair of the Energy, Security and Net Zero Committee. We are following up on our previous Committee’s inquiry into home heating and we have a session next week, so this is very timely. You were talking about other countries. Why are they doing so much better th…”

“Great. This will be my final question. You spoke a lot about how expensive electricity is, you spoke just now about the extra costs of electricity. If they do not go on electricity bills, where should those extra costs go?”

“In your report you talked about the supply chain, and you talked about manufacturing. How important is it that we have a strong domestic supply chain?”

“From what you have seen of this Government’s warm homes plan, do you think there will be a greater degree of certainty and that that will make a difference?”

“I look forward to it, thank you. The previous Government had a target of 600,000 heat pump installations and we are doing about a 10th of it. Do you think that that target is realistic, all things being equal?”