Speeches by Shanks.

“I thank most hon. Members for the tone of the debate. I will return to the shadow Minister’s remarks later. I thank the hon. Member for Caerfyrddin (Ann Davies) for securing the debate, and for recognising the context that it sits in. Several hon. Members have done the same. I wish to reflect first, as she did, on the …”

“I thank the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) for securing this debate. I have a huge amount of respect for him. He and I sparred at Scotland Office questions when we faced each other from different places in the Chamber. I genuinely take these issues seriously. In his list of quotes, I d…”

“It is entirely ridiculous; the hon. Member is absolutely right. The thing about nuclear is that it often builds communities around it that respect the role it plays in the energy mix. Generations of people have worked at these power stations—they often start as apprentices and are still there decades later—so we do not…”

“I will just finish this point, as I have very brief time. It is right that the consultation is genuine and that people have a voice in what happens. I will give way very briefly, but I have only four minutes.”

“I am, and I am always happy to have more conversations with Ofgem about its regulatory role. If the hon. Gentleman has specific things he wants to raise, I am happy to follow up. I will not give way again, as we have very short time. While it is absolutely right that communities should have a voice in this, should be a…”

“I will not give way; sorry. That will also include a centralised network plan so that we have a network that fits generation across the country, and so that we build as little as possible while still getting the most out of the energy system. In the minute or two I have left, I want to say that we recognise the point a…”

“We are delivering a strategic spatial energy plan to support a more actively planned approach to energy infrastructure. It will consider wider demands, including food production, water supply and nature recovery. The Departments for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and for Energy Security and Net Zero will ensure th…”

“The hon. Lady is right to say that public confidence in the safety of all infrastructure is incredibly important. Battery technology is no more unsafe than any other technology, but if there is a public perception that it is, then it is right that we take action to deal with that. That is why I am hosting a roundtable …”

“My hon. Friend is right to highlight that building renewable infrastructure is how we will bring down bills for everyone in the long term. It is incredibly important that we can store cheaper electricity, including through battery storage, so that we can deploy it in the system far more regularly than we are currently …”

“We are building a resilient grid for the future after decades of under-investment. We are halving the development time for new transmission infrastructure, including through reforms to planning regulation and supply chains, and delivering the grid capacity needed to deliver clean power by 2030 and the economic growth t…”

“My hon. Friend asks an incredibly important question. First, I would like to thank all the engineers and customer service staff who worked through the recent Storm Amy to ensure that people were reconnected as quickly as possible, including in some incredibly difficult circumstances—they did a fantastic job. We are try…”

“I could not have organised that better if I had tried: immediately after I said, “If you are against grid infrastructure, you are against economic growth”, up pops the hon. Gentleman to make exactly that point. His party is against building the future of this country, and we are not going to follow that path at all. De…”

“First, I will take no lessons from the party that brought Chinese investors right into building our nuclear power station. This Government are delivering a nuclear power station with British Government funding, not Chinese funding, so I will take no lessons from the Conservatives on that. Many companies want to come an…”

“On the substance of the hon. Member’s question, we launched the future of energy in the North sea consultation with a detailed set of questions, which we are analysing at the moment. We will publish the response to that as soon as possible, but I am sure she will understand that we want to make sure we have it absolute…”

“I am happy to have further conversations with the hon. Gentleman. I know that the refinery is in his constituency and that he cares deeply about it. A process is under way—led by the official receiver, because it is an insolvency process. It is considering a number of bids to make sure they are viable, and will conclud…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right: allocation round 6 delivered a record number of renewables projects, and the jobs and investments that go with them will deliver jobs in constituencies throughout the country, including hers. We have reformed the scheme to ensure that allocation round 7 is a success, at a good price …”

“The Government have published an onshore wind strategy to remove barriers to help companies build more onshore wind, with actions across several areas including planning, aviation, workforce and routes to market.”

“My hon. Friend is right to recognise the importance of the industry in his constituency. Vestas is a key part of the UK’s wind supply chain. The Isle of Wight is already a successful centre for wind blade manufacturing and research and development. I can assure him that we are doing everything we can to work with partn…”

“My hon. Friend foresees what I was going to say. I was just about to come on to his earlier intervention, which was really important. He is right about the need for infrastructure plans to be generated by communities and bottom-up. We need to take a national view of the future of the energy system as well, but I think …”

“Thank you, Sir John, for recognising that my role is exactly the same and yet somehow changed in title. I am grateful still to be the Energy Minister, because, as I often say in this place, the debates that we have are always hugely interesting and bring in so many different aspects of how we plan our future energy sys…”