Speeches by Esterson.

“The Energy Secretary deserves enormous congratulations on moving from the “botched” auction round 5, to use the words of the right hon. Member for East Surrey (Claire Coutinho), to the record success of auction round 7. The strike price will see no increase in consumer bills—indeed, Aurora says that it is likely to see…”

“My constituents stand to benefit enormously from the improvements in capacity and connectivity for Manchester airport and, indeed, Birmingham. The Secretary of State talked about growth in her statement. Does she agree that one of the big benefits will be a reduction in congestion on the roads and the pollution that it…”

“Q11. I was very pleased to hear the Government’s latest announcement about the roll-out of the chickenpox vaccine. It comes in stark contrast to the vaccine conspiracy theories being peddled by Reform. Does my right hon. Friend agree that only with a Labour Government is healthcare in this country safe and that Reform …”

“Happy new year, Mr Speaker. I hope that the Minister, in his new year’s resolutions, will commit to building the case for the energy transition through lower consumer bills, secure jobs, public health improvements through reduced emissions, and indeed energy security. Does he agree that those who oppose climate action …”

“I very much welcome the protection of 500 jobs at Grangemouth and the commitment to making the most of the energy transition through this investment in carbon capture and storage, in components for wind turbines and indeed in nuclear power plants, as the Minister mentioned in his statement. I turn to the very high elec…”

“Maybe you will consider the idea that a good Brit is a green Brit.”

“I mentioned Denmark. The Danes have been at this for a very long time. Their response to the 1973 oil crisis was to try to find alternatives. In Denmark, people grow up being told, “A good Dane is a green Dane.” Do we need something similar here to get greater public support for this energy transition?”

“Okay. Coming to this point about the leadership you have shown internationally, there is the commitment to an 81% reduction in nationally determined contributions from 1990 levels. That is now the second highest, as Denmark has gone 1% higher, but it is something to be very proud of. You decided not to make a financial…”

“The latest climate science, meanwhile, suggests a doubling of the carbon emissions since 2017, and the actuarial analysis shows that, unless we have an immediate and dramatic change in approach, we could see a GDP fall of 20% in the next 20 years. How do you address this challenge? The UK has shown great leadership int…”

“Certainly; thank you. The point that Chris Stark is making is that it will take until 2030 to start to see them coming down. You do not have very long to get that £300 reduction.”

“Good afternoon, Prime Minister. The energy price cap is set to be £83 higher in April next year than it was at the general election. That is after the Budget measures that your Chancellor announced. Energy costs are set to increase as a result of improvements to the network and new generation, including Sizewell C. Tho…”

“5. What steps his Department is taking to support businesses with energy costs.”

“Reducing costs by £40 per megawatt-hour for 7,000 manufacturing businesses is welcome, as is the news in the Budget of changes to the British industry supercharger scheme. However, there are tens—if not hundreds—of thousands of other manufacturing businesses facing some of the highest electricity prices in Europe, whic…”

“Secretary of State, you mentioned that the science is still really bad, although not as bad as it was before. My Select Committee heard last week, in a very sobering panel, that there is evidence that perhaps things are significantly worse than the figures that you just gave. I am going to ask you a question about dome…”

“Thank you very much for reading the report. To return the compliment, I spent part of yesterday reading your engagement strategy; there were very good points in it. I look forward to your fuller response to our report. You touched on SMRs in an earlier answer. One of the things that is clear is the opportunity in the n…”

“Thank you. Last week we heard about the co-benefits—the economic benefits, the military benefits, and the health and nature benefits—of energy security, to make your point for you, but the science is really scary. We were left in no doubt that there is a gap in public understanding. I take your point about avoiding a c…”

“The evidence we heard was that it has not gone far enough. I will ask just one more question if I may, Chair. The changes that are needed to deliver domestic action go well beyond your Department. How well are the Departments for Transport, for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and for Business and Trade performing i…”

“Luke Tryl told my Committee some weeks ago that, actually, energy security was more compelling for people as an argument than any other; the energy price does not convince people, even though people mention it. Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, said to us on Wednesday that although the Bu…”

“Context is everything, and the context for this Budget can be summed up in three letters: ABT. It stands for “anyone but the Tories”, or “austerity, Brexit and Truss”. Both explain the composition of the House of Commons; it is a result of the damage done by those things. Their combined impact is that households in thi…”

“My hon. Friend is right. The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee looks forward to hearing what John Fingleton has to say, and to the Government’s response to him. Regulatory reform is key. We have to speed up planning and grid connections, which are referred to in the Budget, in order to address the very serious sho…”