Speeches by Jones.

“The Government welcome the plans to invest in and around Luton, including the expansion of Luton airport and the incredibly exciting Universal theme park, which is on the “perfect site”, as its president said. It also has perfect MPs. These projects, along with the mass clean power investments we are delivering, will g…”

“The National Wealth Fund has a critical role to play alongside Great British Energy in driving investment and jobs into clean energy industries. The fund is already making great progress, including participating in the latest round by GeoPura, a UK-based green hydrogen pioneer, as well as supporting critical minerals i…”

“My hon. Friend is right to point out the huge amount of private sector investment that is coming in with clean energy. This is why, in the industrial strategy, clean energy is one of the growth-driving sectors where we have seen 10% growth in the economy. We are also seeing hundreds of thousands of jobs, which the Cons…”

“Industrial energy prices doubled under the previous Government and industry suffered, as did consumers, when wholesale prices rocketed at the start of the Ukraine war. The best way to secure bills for the long term—for industry, as well as for consumers—is to deliver clean power by 2030. The truth is that the Tories ra…”

“I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s support for Government policy and for our investment in CCUS. As he knows, Acorn is a matter for the spending review. I talk to many industries in Scotland, and everyone is supportive of the scheme. We support the scheme and are working closely with industry, but it is a matter for the sp…”

“I was delighted that last week the Government were able to announce an initial £300 million through Great British Energy to invest in supply chains for domestic offshore wind. The fund will boost domestic jobs, mobilise additional private investment and secure manufacturing facilities for critical clean energy supply c…”

“We firmly believe that the clean energy transition is the economic opportunity of the 21st century. In recent weeks, we have secured thousands of new jobs in carbon capture, offshore wind and British supply chains. As we transform the way we power our country, we are determined to ensure that communities across our cou…”

“As UK Steel said recently, the main driver of the price disparity is the wholesale electricity cost, which is driven by the UK’s reliance on natural gas. The best way to secure bills for the long term is to deliver clean power by 2030, and that is what we are doing.”

“The Office for Clean Energy Jobs is focused on developing a skilled workforce in core energy and net zero sectors that are critical to meeting our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are working with Skills England to assess skill needs and engaging with t…”

“As the Secretary of State made clear during the debate of Saturday before last, the capacity for primary steelmaking production is important, and the steel strategy will look at exactly how we deliver that. There are new ways of delivering primary steel—using hydrogen, for example—that other European countries are now …”

“I think the hon. Gentleman is referring to the situation at Whitehaven. As I have already said, British Streel told us directly that it could not use that coal because of the sulphur content and working coke ovens are needed to—”

“The hon. Gentleman says that is not true, but he needs to provide evidence of that, because that is what British Steel has told us, and it does not have coking ovens because they were closed under the previous Government.”

“My hon. Friend is quite right to raise ceramics and their importance in blast furnaces. We have all become steel experts through the many podcasts that everybody has been listening to over recent weeks. One of the issues with shutting down blast furnaces immediately without proper provision is not just that the metal h…”

“I need to be clear on this point, because I know that there has been lots of speculation. We are not aware of any deliberate acts of sabotage. There was an issue with people coming on site who did not gain access. No Jingye officials are on site at the moment. We are talking to Jingye in a respectful way about what hap…”

“My hon. Friend is right to say that we produce only about 30% of the steel we use in this country, and we must be much more ambitious about increasing that figure. He is also right to raise questions about carbon leakage and safeguards. The CBAM is being introduced in 2027. We are working through what happens in the in…”

“We deeply regret the choices that INEOS has made. As the hon. Gentleman knows, Grangemouth does not provide the only refining capacity in the UK, but he is right to say it is the only provision in Scotland, which is why we intervened with a package of support and a £200 million commitment from the national wealth fund …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his work and for the support that he has provided to me, officials and others because of his expertise in this space. He is right to thank staff; they have worked unbelievably hard, and I am very grateful for what they have done. He is also right to talk about how we ensure that the product m…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his words of appreciation. The construction sector is incredibly important when it comes to steel. We are looking at every measure we can take to ensure that people can buy British steel in a way that is competitive and useful for them. We are looking at procurement and at other measures …”

“I thank the hon. Lady for promoting me to Secretary of State—I am actually just a junior Minister. She is right to raise the issue of Port Talbot. The transition board has papers that we can send her, which set out exactly how many people have gone through training processes. The number of people who have taken compuls…”

“The ridiculous energy costs that the hon. Gentleman refers to are a result of 14 years of Conservative Government—we need to be really clear about that. His point about the steel strategy, which has already been made, is reasonable. Of course, Members are really keen for us to bring that strategy forward as soon as pos…”