Speeches by Miliband.

“I am just explaining to you that we are following the practices of previous Governments, but—”

“You would have to ask them.”

“Yes—that is what I was going to say when I said I would give you a more general answer. First, a lot of work is going on with the National Electricity System Operator to make sure that in our future projections of electricity demand we look at the demands of data centres on the system, including any implications for bi…”

“That is the practice that was employed under the previous Government, but ask me any questions about our relationship with China and I will answer them.”

“This is a discussion we should continue to have. The principle that you set out, which is when communities live near large-scale energy infrastructure they should benefit from it, I agree with; that is community benefit in a broad sense. Specifically, the excitement for me of the local power plan is that it is a shift …”

“I completely agree. I said in my statement yesterday that it was very important to look at questions of not just the financial barriers that community energy groups face or the capacity barriers, but the system barriers. That is one of the discussions that we are going to have. Sometimes you do things in politics and y…”

“I have given an answer. I do not have any more to add to the answers I gave.”

“Mr Thomas, do ask me any questions you like about our relationship with China.”

“As I say, we are following the practices of the previous Government.”

“Candidly, the question about what they took into account for their projections is a matter for them. It is obviously something that we will scrutinise as part of our response to CB7. Let me just go to the more general question—”

“We made a commitment of getting up to £300 off bills by 2030, and that remains our commitment.”

“That depends on the policy choices we make between now and 2030. What the Chancellor did is an important downpayment and an important measure, but the cost of living crisis is deep and long standing. That is why I think it is a start.”

“We proceed on a certain basis with some countries and on different bases with different countries, as has been the practice of previous Governments. But honestly, ask me any questions about our relationship with China, and I will answer them for you.”

“Is that to put into public spending?”

“Well, you obviously do not have any questions actually about the substance. What is your question on the substance, Mr Thomas?”

“Tax matters are for the Chancellor. I think your concern in your cost of energy report about the old regime for the previous RIIO price period is correct, and it has been corrected for the coming price period. I am old enough and wise enough not to get into tax matters, but if your point is that the job of my Departmen…”

“It is obviously important to take into account the impact of data centres.”

“It is absolutely right that we are vigilant about investments from China, in particular in relation to energy. The previous Government believed that it was right for China to own our nuclear power stations, but we do not agree with that. That is why we believe that we need UK ownership of our nuclear power stations, an…”

“The first clean energy agreement with China was made in 2015 and was not published. We are just following the previous practice. I suspect that you have a suspicion that there has been this big conspiracy, as you see it. I honestly think that it is really clutching at straws. I think I have given the answer.”

“This is a really important point. When you look at the boiler upgrade scheme—which is, after all, one of the main schemes—I think a significant percentage goes to people in rural areas, and indeed to those off the gas grid as well. I wondered whether the permanent secretary wanted to add anything.”