Speeches by MacAlister.

“I want to turn specifically to the role of nuclear in both of the pathways. Given its importance as a source of firm power generation for both options, can you talk us through why the deployment targets differ between the two and your thinking behind that? Kayte O’Neill: We agree with you that nuclear is a very importa…”

“Why does it differ between the two models and what are some of the trade-offs? It would be useful to understand the thinking on the target dispatch number.”

“Finally, what role do you expect thermal batteries to play and what is the trade-off with other forms of technology for industrial users?”

“My constituency is fortunate enough to have a number of potential projects that are ripe for investment, including the Port of Workington and energy projects for new nuclear and other kinds of clean energy. They are essential projects for economic growth, but to get them going we need major planning reform, not just fo…”

“8. What recent progress her Department has made on planning reform.”

“I strongly welcome the Secretary of State’s signing of a new UK-US advanced nuclear technologies agreement at COP. Will he share more details of that agreement, and does he agree that it could form the basis of a much more ambitious agreement between the UK and the US on civil nuclear development?”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Lola McEvoy) on securing this important debate. I would like to say a few words about the context of this debate and the parallels between it and some of the debates in the last century, specifically to do with road safety. Despite the car being a relatively comm…”

“Not a view shared by all communities.”

“Thank you very much, and welcome to the Committee. The first question is about an issue that was raised during the Bill Committee for the GBE Bill, and was related to the operational independence of Great British Energy. There was a lot of reassurance provided during that process that GBE would be distinct from other i…”

“On the appointment of the chief executive and the senior leadership team by you and the board, are you clear yet on who is making that call and what that says about the operational independence of the company?”

“Hi, Simon. I have a few questions that I will try to move through quickly. Just to pick up on a theme raised in the two previous questions, are you permanent yet or are you still interim?”

“And the same with the chief executive?”

“Spring 2025 is the date that has been shared, and Governments sometimes refer to having only two seasons in a year, spring and autumn. Can you give us any more clarity on when in spring you expect to make an announcement about the next stage of the SMR programme?”

“I ask because there has already been a series of delays. I know that these are not entirely within your control, but in terms of the part that GBN plays, they want confidence and certainty about a process that keeps moving, and spring is not a confident envelope; it is quite a broad one.”

“The spring window.”

“If 24 GW by 2050 were still the goal, would we be on or off track for it at the moment, with the delays we have currently had with the SMR programme?”

“Can you briefly talk us through the logic for the SMR competition process itself? The US Federal Government have taken a different approach—not for SMRs but for AMRs—and are backing what you might call two national champions, X-energy and TerraPower. They have co-invested, made the decision and are getting on with cons…”

“Thinking about obstacles and challenges for progressing—things like land and private investment—what are you most worried about risk-wise for the next stage of the SMR programme?”

“The next questions are about gigawatt.”

“Turning to the final bit from me, I have a concern that we are being too linear here about SMR, AMR and gigawatt programmes. We have GBN mandated with only one task at the moment, which is the SMR competition, and that then needs to fit into a world where we have the 2030 clean energy target. The SMRs will not play a r…”