Speeches by Hobhouse.

“Q We have been round the houses several times today. We need to see whether we can add anything to the Bill, whether something is missing from it or whether a lot of this will become clearer once the Secretary of State prepares a statement of strategic priorities or we understand the governance structures—all that. You…”

“Q Good morning, Mr Maier. It is very good to see you here. I have some questions about the overall aims that the Bill and the company are trying to achieve. You have just said that it will be an enabler, so we have to imagine it as something that will happen before any contracts for difference are attributed. It is an …”

“Local authorities play an important role as trusted sources of knowledge and expertise, and guide householders, for example, to trusted installers, but they need the resources to do that. Will the Department devolve some resources to local authorities to fulfil that important role?”

“Q Thank you for answering our questions. In the morning sitting we struggled with the fact that although we all hope the Bill will do something, it has relatively little detail. We have already discussed the merits of not having too much detail, because then GB Energy would be hampered, and of having more detail. We ha…”

“Q We had a line of questioning around research and development. Do you think it is important that the Bill is future-proofed in that way—that GB Energy really focuses on those markets and those projects where the private investors would not come in behind? Is there any way in which the Bill could strengthen that? Resea…”

“So the Bill is sufficient in protecting communities? Shaun Spiers: I would like to see a nature recovery duty in the Bill.”

“Q I want to come back to what Shaun said a little earlier about the slight risk of the great power that the Secretary of State has. Do you think that there should be some protection in the Bill for communities, so that they can have a say? We also know that quite a lot of the delivery of our new transition infrastructu…”

“Q Good morning. I want to come back to clause 5 of the Bill, which is about the statement of strategic priorities. Most of what I have heard this morning is that we are a bit worried about there not being enough detail on certain things. Should there be more detail about the strategic priorities in the Bill, such as jo…”

“Q I have one last question about the timeframes, which are very vague. The Bill states: “The Secretary of State must prepare a statement of strategic priorities for Great British Energy.” Do you have any idea of when we can expect that statement to be laid before Parliament? Juergen Maier: I am not sure of the exact ti…”

“Q Does the Bill give us enough clarity? How will other financial institutions, such as the UK Infrastructure Bank or the British Business Bank, support what GB Energy is trying to do? The Bill is very short, so I wonder whether there is enough scope within it to explain that to investors. Juergen Maier: There will be t…”

“So—”

“Q We have heard a lot of evidence from lots of people with lots of hopes, who understood that in the end the Bill could be all things to all people. I understand that it is not great to put too much detail in it, but I worry that it is very general and that we will end up with nobody being quite clear what GB Energy is…”

“Q It is good to hear from you again, Andy—we had a discussion a few weeks ago. At the beginning of your remarks today you said, as others have said, that GB Energy should not just be an investment vehicle; it should be so much more. We have to deal with this Bill and see whether it will meet the ambitions of your membe…”

“Q Following on from what you were saying about uncertainties, and how we have the Bill but then there are all sorts of other questions, it is about creating certainties for us as legislators, to some extent, as well as for investors. Clause 5 says that “the Secretary of State must prepare a statement of strategic prior…”

“Not in this Bill? David Whitehouse: Not in this Bill—sorry.”

“Waste incinerators release, on average, a tonne of CO2 for every tonne of waste incinerated. They are usually called “energy from waste” but their environmental value is questionable unless carbon capture is attached. Yes, we need to recycle more, but energy from waste will be with us for years to come. Will the Secret…”

“I thank the Leader of the House for announcing the forthcoming business, and echo her in wishing the Princess of Wales all the best in her further recovery. May I also say how proud it makes me that the first Opposition day debate in the name of the Liberal Democrats has been announced? Tomorrow marks the beginning of …”

“I congratulate everybody who has contributed to this important debate. Many different points were made, and all were made well and passionately. The new hon. Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) was absolutely right to say in her passionate opening speech that it is unacceptable when Governments make internati…”

“The hon. Gentleman just said “dispatchable” baseload power, and that is exactly what nuclear is not. If we just have a baseload that trundles along, renewables will be the ones we turn off and the nuclear will keep going; that is a waste of a lot of renewable energy, and it already happens. Does not the hon. Gentleman …”

“We Liberal Democrats welcome today’s statement to give local authorities, not just metro Mayors, more powers and the potential to run their bus services. We Liberal Democrats have campaigned for exactly that for a very long time. The previous Conservative Government completely decimated local transport systems, but the…”