Speeches by Miliband.

“I said the Committee has taken a keen interest in this. Can I say that I very much enjoyed working with you in the last Parliament when you were the Liberal Democrat spokesperson? It is good to work together again. It is important to take this head-on. All the experts tell us that without CCUS we are simply not going t…”

“It depends how you look at this. In some sense, the oil and gas industry is paying for some of this through taxation. If you think about the windfall tax that we have put in place, some of this is coming through taxation. It is also the case, honestly, that with any first-of-a-kind technology—any new technology—if you …”

“Also, you could say to the cement industry, “Well there is no future for you in a decarbonised world,” but I do not think we should say that. We should say, “There is going to be a future for you in a decarbonised world.” How is the cement industry—to give one example among many that I could give—going to decarbonise w…”

“I think both have a role. Take Net Zero Teesside and the project there. We are confident that it will play a role in helping us to deliver 2030 clean power in a decarbonised way. We could be saying, “Let’s just have unabated gas,” but that would not be fulfilling our climate commitments. It is the right thing to do. I …”

“I am also an unusual person to be accused of allowing the oil and gas industry to continue business as usual. That is something that has never been said to me before.”

“Into scare quotes, as they say. Do you want to add anything, Jeremy?”

“Not at all, Barry.”

“Always, Barry, always.”

“Let me deal with the general and then come to the specific. On the general, thank you for your kind words, and right back at you, as they say, because your championing of this agenda—your leadership on this agenda—has been incredibly important over the years and has huge respect not just domestically but internationall…”

“There is quite a lot in there, Barry.”

“I think you have made the points that you wanted to get across. I am totally respectful of that and you have put them on the record. Obviously we will look at the letters and the information you provide.”

“Let me say something by way of opening on nuclear, and then come to your questions. I want to put on record that we see nuclear as an important part of the electricity mix going forward. When I was Secretary of State last time, I wanted to drive forward nuclear. We published a list of sites. I think it is important, an…”

“We share the spirit of ambition behind that goal. I want to put that on the record. If I can be diplomatic about this, it is perhaps easier for Governments to say, “Here is our number for 2050,” without really having a plan to get there. That is what slightly concerns me about some of what the last Government said. I t…”

“Yes, frankly, I am. I said at the opening—no problem about you not being here for it—that I am old enough to remember when David Cameron was the Conservative party leader in opposition. His slogan was—I remarked on this to him when I saw him a few months ago—“Vote blue, go green”. I think that healthy competition on cl…”

“As I said at the outset, an important thing to underline and talk about is that I think there is broad consensus for this and support for the clean energy transition, partly because people recognise the scale of the threat, but also because people recognise the reality of our exposure to fossil fuels. That is what all …”

“There are different ways of talking about it. Net zero is quite a nerdy term but, as you know, that is my Department’s job: to be nerdy. But there are different ways of talking about this. There is a strange thing about this, which is that I think Westminster sometimes underestimates the extent to which the public gets…”

“The important thing to understand about this—and this is the narrative that I use about the first and second limb of our mission—is that this is right for future generations but it is also right for current generations. Think about the issue of transport: people are exposed to what will happen to oil prices and we have…”

“I can write to you on the specifics around the carbon price. The important thing about the NESO report is what it shows about the potential for lower bills. I know you had Fintan before your Committee, but I can write to you about the carbon price.”

“I will not endorse these assumptions in the way you are suggesting, but what I will say to you is that we can definitely achieve 2030 clean power in a way that is good for business. If you think about the response of industry right across the board to the document that we produced in December, whether it is in manufact…”

“We work with NESO all the time on these issues. We work hand in glove with NESO, not just on modelling but on all of these questions, because they have a crucial role in the system and they have a crucial role in helping us to deliver clean power. But I have to be honest with you: the worst thing for business in the la…”