Speeches by Crichton.

“Tom, let me ask you a political question. Is there any reason, apart from a political one, why new nuclear power stations could not be built in Torness and Hunterston?”

“I will move on to the “where” question. The Nuclear Industry Association has said that the Government should look at other sites beyond EN-6 and EN-7. Surely we are just going to build these things where nuclear plants already exist.”

“Tom, is the political will there to build them—globally and domestically?”

“1. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to reduce digital exclusion in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency.”

“I welcome the Secretary of State and her friendly-faced team to their posts. I also welcome the millions going into Project Gigabit. However, that money is finding its way into Openreach’s coffers but not to the end of the road in the Western Isles. I have many constituents, including two in my own village of Swordale,…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. He is Labour’s south by south-west to my north by north-west. It is good to have our communities connected to a Government who make change for rural areas and coastal communities. My constituency has much in common with his; it faces the same challenges of conn…”

“Interesting, because in polarised debates like referenda or Brexit, you found politics coming into it. Are people stuffing these citizens’ assemblies with people who represent their point of view?”

“Stephanie, a couple of questions. How do you make citizens’ assemblies representative? I am guessing that the people who engage with the climate debate are usually people, like you said, who have high support for renewables, “I am not against renewables, but—” and then you get the engaged people who are not against ren…”

“These are retirees, I am guessing.”

“Are they assemblies or focus groups? What you are describing is the way you would select a focus group, almost.”

“Polly has a follow-up question, so does Polly want to go first.”

“Thanks all for coming in. Time is short so I will keep my questions brief on community engagement and overcoming that opposition. As Polly alluded to, the opposition to renewables is a lightning rod for another kind of political position to the Government. You get these three themes of people being completely sceptical…”

“Lorraine, you alluded to that balance between fast and fair. What we see is the UK Government and the Scottish Government—and a lot of these renewables will be built in Scotland—coming together to agree a shorter planning process, a shorter time to appeal against these things; basically speeding things up. Do you think…”

“The other side of this—as you discussed, Stephanie—is getting bogged down in legalese and things not getting done, and the temperature is increasing every summer while we do nothing. People that can afford it do it, but most people feel not listened to when government or councils or planning processes go through.”

“How about starting with giving them a share of the development?”

“That comes back to the original engagement you and I had, that the people who tend to engage in that are the kind of people who are for renewables but—”

“Interesting, because in polarised debates like referenda or Brexit, you found politics coming into it. Are people stuffing these citizens’ assemblies with people who represent their point of view?”

“Polly has a follow-up question, so does Polly want to go first.”

“Thanks all for coming in. Time is short so I will keep my questions brief on community engagement and overcoming that opposition. As Polly alluded to, the opposition to renewables is a lightning rod for another kind of political position to the Government. You get these three themes of people being completely sceptical…”

“Or people who will use it have another political agenda, a party political agenda perhaps, who will use renewables as a lightning rod to build opposition against the current Government.”