Barry Gardiner
MP for Brent West · Labour · United Kingdom
“Sir Desmond, imagine that the top brains in the country’s security and intelligence community produced a report that told you how to save the world. You would want to see it, right? Well, the report we are discussing is not about how to save the world; it is about what happens if we do not.”
“The nuclear threat will rise as clashes between nuclear powers become more frequent. Those are the cold assessments of the Joint Intelligence Committee. The Government were right to think that those assessments might scare people—they scare me—but they were wrong to think that they could hide them from the public.”
“The Minister will know that the grant structure on which UKRI is based gives out grants for a maximum of three to five years. Very few are for five years—most are for three years or under—yet the sort of long-term scientific development that my hon.”
“My hon. Friend is making a superb case for the importance of funding for her deep earth facility. I had the privilege of going to the National Oceanography Centre’s deep oceans facility, and the innovative science there on carbon sequestration is superb.”
“The Prime Minister has spoken powerfully about the devolution of power and giving back control. Will he therefore ensure that the proposals for commonhold and leasehold reform, for which 5 million leaseholders in this country are waiting with bated breath, do give that power and control back to those people, through the right to enfranchi…”
“We know how much land there is in the UK, and we know the extent of our inland waters and seas, so we can know how much we have to do to protect them, as we are required to do by target 3 of the global biodiversity framework.”
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“Much of the subsidy that farmers receive is for environmental stewardship schemes and other land management practices that benefit biodiversity and wildlife. To turn round to farmers now and say that the £3.5 billion total of subsidy that used to flow each year from the EU into their pockets is no longer secure is not just an attack on farmers’ livelihoods; it is an attack on all the work that farmers do to enhance our environment and protect our landscapes. These are not abstract challenges. Managing the risks born of the uncertainty from the referendum outcome is a responsibility for Government.”
“No, I will not. The fact is that fish and birds and insects do not carry passports; pollution is oblivious to the strictures of national airspace or inshore waters. If we wish to manage all of these, whether as pests, problems or resources, then it is better to do so in concert with our regional neighbours. The vote to leave the EU has made that harder. The Government must outline how they propose to overcome that problem. The Environment Secretary told the House last week that the subject of continued subsidies to farmers up to 2020 “is not a decision I can make at this stage.” —[ Official Report , 7 July 2016; Vol. 612, c. 1028.] Surely it is a decision that should have been made long before anyone asked farmers to vote to leave the EU.”
“The environmental protections we have enjoyed under the EU are not bureaucracy to be done away with; they are part of what it is to live in a civilised country that respects the natural world and believes that the only prosperous future is a sustainable one. So, finally, I ask three key questions. Will the Government now move swiftly to ratify the Paris climate agreement? How will the Government press for access to the internal energy market? How will the Government ensure that energy bills do not go up as a result of the increased investor uncertainty following the vote? Ultimately, the Government must commit to safeguarding environmental protections to at least the same level we have enjoyed within the EU, by passing into UK law all those regulations that would otherwise fall away upon leaving the EU.”
“I am happy to say to the hon. Gentleman that I have been a critic of the CAP, as he has, for many years, but the pillar 2 arrangements under the CAP and the environmental stewardship arrangements under the CAP were positive and there was a net benefit from those. I want the Government to set out the new arrangements they propose, so that we can be sure that the environmental protections remain in place, and that that money is not frittered away on something else. The Government must provide answers to Parliament and the public, who want to be reassured that our environmental protections are not to be weakened in some Brexit bonfire of the regulations.”
“Although, in terms of our own emissions reduction capacity and our own climate commitments, CCS is not critical for our infrastructure in the immediate future, it could have been marketed across the world through the technology and skills that Britain could have exported. For that reason, I regret the loss of funding. However, it does not give me cause to detain the Committee longer or to press the matter to a vote.”
“The OGA’s new powers and oversight to ensure that decommissioning is used to best advantage in the North sea seems to us entirely right. Decommissioning should not operate in the short-term interests of those involved, but in the longer-term interests of the co-operative use of the infrastructure. That is a point I wish to make particularly for the benefit of not only those who are involved in future production in more marginal fields over this coming period, but the future possible use of the North sea as one of the world’s finest repositories for carbon capture and storage. I regret that the Government have abandoned their funding for the development of the CCS programme. I think that is a devastating shame. We have the finest repositories in the world and they are going to be there awaiting CCS technology.”
“Ms Ryan, it is always a delight to see you in the Chair. Some hon. Members from the Minister’s party have encouraged me to detain her in Committee for as long as is reasonably possible this morning. In respect of their wishes, I have searched back through the Petroleum Act 1998, section 3: licences to search and bore for and get petroleum, and section 4: licences for further provisions. I have gone to the Oil Taxation Act 1975, section 3: allowance of expenditure (other than expenditure on long-term assets and abortive exploration expenditure), and to schedule 2, which talks about the management and collection of petroleum revenue tax returns by participators. I am sad to say that I have not been able to find any cause to detain the Committee longer. My party has agreed with the findings of Sir Ian Wood’s review.”
“The interesting point about battery technology is that it is now moving on at such a pace that the modular packs will be able to be fitted to the properties and, if we have a disaggregated grid, localised solar and wind will feed into each house when it is being produced and into the modular pack. Those packs can then be used to charge the vehicles overnight in the home. We are moving to a structure in which that is possible, but it requires the Minister to do precisely what he was challenged to do by the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Drew Hendry) with the mythical inter-ministerial group on clean growth. Will the Minister speak with his colleagues across Government to make sure that there is an integrated solution and not simply a transport solution?”
“It says that “improved vehicle efficiency has been offset by increased demand for travel as the economy has grown and fuel prices have fallen.” The committee notes the progress on funding being made available for electric vehicles up to 2018, but highlights that there are no vehicle efficiency standards beyond 2020. The long-term target of 2050 is simply hot air without a medium-term delivery plan. I want to respect the Minister’s time, so I will move over a number of comments that I wished to make, but I will pick up on the important points that the hon. Member for Wells made about the structure of the network and the importance of capacity. He is absolutely right in what he said about power generation—there is no point in running clean cars on dirty fuel.”
“In fact, the Government have said that they are committed to “ensuring almost every car and van is a zero emission vehicle by 2050.” I welcome that, but a target without a plan is just a wish, and so far the Government do not have a plan. The Committee on Climate Change’s progress report to Parliament last week showed that the UK is set to miss its legal climate commitments for the 2030s by 47%. That is a staggering shortfall. Boiled down, the reason is that outside the power sector there has been “almost no progress in the rest of the economy”. One of the principal reasons that the committee gives for that slow progress on decarbonising is the lack of progress on decarbonising transport.”
“If that was the number of people dying from road accidents each year, the Minister would not still be in his place. The Government would have a crisis on their hands, and they would have had to respond, but because air pollution is a silent killer it has not got real traction in government. I welcome the opportunity that this debate gives us to raise the issue up the agenda, particularly since the Mayor of London launched his air quality campaign on the landmark occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Clean Air Act. The former Mayor of London, sometimes known as the former future leader of the Conservative party, pledged in May 2009 that 25,000 charge points would be installed across the capital by 2015. The actual figure today is fewer than 1,000.”
“It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. It is also a great pleasure to respond to the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish), who was as perspicacious as ever in introducing the debate. He has been plugging away at this issue for quite some time—no pun intended. I also welcome the contributions of the other Members who have spoken, particularly the sheer enthusiasm of the hon. Member for Taunton Deane (Rebecca Pow) and the analysis of the hon. Member for Wells (James Heappey), who made an important contribution to the debate. The 60th anniversary of the Clean Air Act 1956 came this week. The hon. Member for Taunton Deane was absolutely right to refer to the number of people who die from polluted air in this country—the figure is 52,500 per annum.”
“The hon. Gentleman is making a very passionate case. I agree that Ofgem in its October 2015 report found that electricity distribution charges are higher than average in the north of Scotland, but in contrast it found that electricity and gas transmission charges are higher in the south of England and lower in Scotland, and that gas distribution charges are higher in London and the south of England and lower in Scotland. Does he accept that there is a real issue with regional variation, but it is not unitary that Scotland is always disadvantaged by that variation?”
“Diolch yn fawr, Mrs Main. Yn yr wythnos lle mae Cymru wedi gwneud Prydain mor falch, ni ddylir y ddadl atal dathlu athrylith y bobol Gymraeg, yn enwedig os fyddent yn mynd ymlaen i guro’r Ffrancwyr neu’r Almaenwyr yn y ffeinal.”
“Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber said, but also in Merseyside, north Wales and the south-west of England. The charges are of course lower in London and eastern England. In contrast, electricity and gas transmission charges are higher in the south of England and lower in Scotland, and gas distribution charges are higher in London and the south of England and lower in Scotland and north-east England. Although this debate has largely been presented—I speak as a Scot here—in terms of the injustice that an English Parliament is doing to Scotland, the reality is very different.”
“Members for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, for Strangford and for Aberdeen South (Callum McCaig) said, yet Ministers are still letting the energy companies off the hook and failing to ensure that the drop in wholesale energy prices is passed through to bill payers. The Energy and Climate Change Committee reported on energy network charges in February 2015 and recommended that the Government and Ofgem should “publish an evidence-based analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of introducing national tariffs for transmission and distribution network charges.” Following that recommendation, Ofgem published its report, but it found principally that electricity distribution charges are indeed higher than average in the north of Scotland, exactly as the hon.”
“Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope), was to reassert their objective to keep “overall costs down for bill payers across Great Britain.” I note that they did not say Northern Ireland. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) is no longer in his place, so I will add “and Northern Ireland,” because I trust that that is what the Department meant. Network charges on a typical dual fuel consumer bill have risen by approximately 30% in the past four years, according to British Gas—we need some sort of explanation for that from the Minister—and seven out of 10 customers are currently being overcharged for their energy. As a result, millions of households cannot afford their energy bills, as the hon.”
“The Minister recently wrote to the Energy and Climate Change Committee, stating that “one of the main drivers for transmission costs is the need for new network investment to accommodate renewable generation in areas such as Scotland.” I therefore ask a further question: how much is being invested in upgrading our networks to be able to carry clean energy? Is that spending based on projections that include meeting our 2020 clean energy target? The debate is also important in highlighting the systemic problem of the lack of transparency in an energy market that is failing the overwhelming majority of customers. The Government’s response to the Ofgem inquiry, in answer to a written question by the hon.”
“The “Low carbon network infrastructure” report also recommended: “DECC should investigate the disadvantage UK generators may consequently face against other European generators as Great Britain becomes more interconnected, and the impact this may have on development of domestic renewable generation.” Given the vote to leave the EU, I also ask the Minister to provide greater clarity on the future of the UK’s electricity interconnection with the continent. It is also worth noting that transmission tariffs for generators are higher in Great Britain than in the rest of the EU. The UK is one of only three EU member states with locational transmission tariffs.”
“Ofgem also found last year that it is “legally possible to introduce national network charges but the change from the current approach would need to be justified against various criteria in European law, particularly on cost reflectivity.” Although I am mindful, Mrs Main, of your admonishment of the hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford) for straying into the whole debate around Brexit, it seems appropriate, given that that is the legal situation, to ask whether the Government have sought new advice on this issue in light of the vote to leave the European Union.”
“We recognise that this presents challenges for the Government, but it has been slow to present a clear, holistic plan for the evolution networks need”. That Committee’s June report, “Low carbon network infrastructure”, concluded that networks “are at the heart of the UK’s low carbon ambition”, yet network charges “form an increasing proportion of consumer bills.” The Committee called out “outdated and inflexible regulation and governance” as potential obstacles to making our energy network fit for the 21st century. Remarking that network connection costs “remain geographically skewed,” the Committee called for Ofgem to “assess the costs and benefits of levelling connection costs across Great Britain” and Northern Ireland in order for the Government to consider whether geographical disparities can continue to be justified.”
“In a week when Wales has done the whole UK proud, no debate should fail to celebrate the genius of the Welsh people, especially if they go on to beat the French or the Germans in the final.” Ofgem concluded last year that from a regulatory perspective, there “does not appear to be any clear justification” for national network charges “in terms of the regional concentration of vulnerability.” However, as we shift towards cleaner energy to deliver our legal climate targets—an issue on which the Minister has nailed her own colours to the mast—we must also overhaul the management of our energy networks to become smarter and more flexible. The Energy and Climate Change Committee remarked last month: “Networks are transforming.”
“Mrs Main, I took the precaution of speaking to the Clerk beforehand, and found out that it was in order to speak in Welsh, Norman French or English. Given that this is a regional debate, I thought it was only right to speak in Welsh at the beginning, but she did advise me that a translation was always required, which I will of course be very happy to provide to both you and Hansard . I said: “Thank you very much, Mrs Main.”
“Why should someone pay 80% or 100% more in distribution costs in one part of the UK than in another? That is absolutely right, and the argument for fairness he made is correct. However, when speaking in percentages, one sometimes blurs the fact that the actual amounts are relatively small. Even households in the north of Scotland who use electricity for heating would benefit from maximum reductions of about £60 a year. That is just over £1 a week. Of course that should happen, but he should acknowledge the scale of the problem we are dealing with.”
“Ofgem found mixed results on bills from a switch to national network charges, which would result in approximately 16 million households facing higher bills, while about 11 million would see reduced bills under such an approach. In most cases, the increase or decrease would be small—of that £20 a year margin. In Scotland, 1.8 million households would face higher bills and only 700,000 households would see reductions. It is harder to estimate the numbers for England and Wales separately because the distribution networks that serve Welsh households also operate across the border in England. The hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber tended to speak in percentages. Of course, when one speaks in percentages, things can sound really disproportionate.”
“I will, but I will make a little progress first. Ofgem concluded that there “does not appear to be any clear justification” for national network charges “in terms of the regional concentration of vulnerability.” That is exactly what the hon. Gentleman and I would wish to see: that evening out across the piece. So for a household with typical electricity and gas consumption there would be an increase or decrease to the network charge element of a bill, but it would be of less than £20 a year in most distribution network areas. There would be more significant changes in three electricity distribution regions, and they are: south-west England, would be down by £38; Merseyside and north Wales would be down by £26; and east Midlands would be up by £27.”
“I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman that it is a question of fairness. I agree that there should be a unitary basis on which this is calculated, and indeed I think the Minister is on record as having made statements that indicate that she agrees. As I have mentioned, there are issues relating to the way in which we are permitted to do that under European law that may now be freed up. They need to be investigated and, if we can do that, we should. I simply wanted to put in perspective what I felt was the over-ebullience of the hon. Gentleman when he spoke. In the grand scheme of things, these are small injustices, not great ones, and they apply more widely throughout the regions of the United Kingdom than just in Scotland.”
“I agree that many factors come together to push people into fuel poverty and into poverty. They have been ably outlined by the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues. The point I am making is that here we have something that affects not just one part of the United Kingdom but many parts of England and Wales, as the Ofgem report clearly shows.”
“I felt that the debate had been unbalanced in how the facts were presented, which implied that this was an injustice being done by the Westminster Government to poor Scotland.”
“Mrs Main, I am mindful of your ruling. I simply wanted to say I accept that there is an issue of justice and fairness, but wider effects are being felt all around the UK. If we keep this issue in that context rather than trying to make it about “us” and “them” and simple victimisation, we will have a much better opportunity to resolve the problems that do exist.”
“If it were true, but the hon. Gentleman should know that it is not. If he does the arithmetic correctly, he will see that those 700,000 were of the £20 maximum variation, not £60. He will also recognise that more than double that figure—1.8 million—in Scotland would face higher bills. He really needs to try to see this issue not through the lens of victimisation but through the lens of reality. With that, I conclude.”
“Her Cabinet colleagues have been very clear that to meet the deficit, they can raise taxes, or cut departmental spending, or borrow. Which is it going to be? For goodness’ sake, the Government are in the midst of a financial crisis. The Chancellor refuses to tell us how he is going to get out of it—he says it is up to a future Chancellor to decide, because he knows that in a few short weeks he will no longer be the occupant of No. 11—”
“National Grid has issued a warning that energy bills would rise and energy security be put at risk if, like Switzerland, the UK is excluded from Europe’s internal energy market. The Secretary of State herself cited analysis by Vivid Economics ahead of the referendum that warned that the potential impact of exclusion from the IEM could be up to £500 million a year by the early 2020s. Given the Secretary of State’s clear view on this, which I agree with, and bearing in mind that the Chancellor has been forced to announce that his fiscal surplus target is being dispensed with, as we will no longer be able to balance the books by 2020 as he had promised, and that growth has been downgraded from 2% to just 0.4%, we must ask her with what certainty she is asking us to consider the estimates for her Department.”
“Friend the Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead) speaks with such knowledge and authority on these matters. He made a very powerful point about the LCF after 2020, and I hope the Secretary of State will give some clarity on that in her closing remarks. In its latest report, “Meeting carbon budgets”, which was published last Thursday, the Committee on Climate Change showed that there is a need for “urgent action to strengthen policies” without which progress on emissions will not continue. We are in a post-Brexit situation. Investor confidence has been lost through heightened uncertainty, creating a crisis in investment that in turn creates a crisis in energy costs, as greater uncertainty results in higher costs of capital.”
“Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham), despite his sore throat, spoke very powerfully about the need to bring forward the UK carbon plan. He is absolutely right. That goes to the point made by the hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness and by the Scottish National party spokesperson, the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Callum McCaig). It is great to have the ambition of the fifth carbon budget, but, yet again, we look back to 2011, when the fourth carbon budget was set. We know that the statutory obligation is to bring forward, as soon as reasonably practicable, a plan to show how it will be achieved. Five years later, we are still waiting for that. My hon. Friend’s point was a very fair one: it should be brought forward by the end of the year and rolled out immediately, to give confidence to investors. My hon.”
“It had to be set and voted on under the affirmative resolution procedure of this House by 30 June. That did not happen. I hope that the Secretary of State will clarify the legal status of the budget to the House. It is one thing to accept the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change, but simply accepting is not good enough. The Climate Change Act is very clear on that point: it has to be set. So far, it has not been. The judgment of the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Antoinette Sandbach) was absolutely impeccable. She spoke at great length, but it was a great speech. She talked about the investor community being startled, but in a way that, I trust, did not scare the horses or make her open to the accusation of talking Britain down. It was a very fine speech indeed. My hon.”
“Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) when one looks at the way in which it led the industry on until the very last minute, before finally applying the knife to carbon capture and storage. Well, there we are. It is no wonder that the hon. Member for Warrington South (David Mowat) regretted the decline of the CCS projects. He was quite right to do so. He also spoke very powerfully about the green deal, calling its demise nothing short of a disaster. The hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) quite rightly praised the Government for agreeing with the Committee on Climate Change on the fifth carbon budget. I agree with him. I just wish that they had actually set it by the statutory limit in accordance with the Climate Change Act 2008.”
“I thank the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr MacNeil) and his Committee for initiating this debate, for giving the House the opportunity to consider the direction of the Government’s energy and climate change policy, and for their excellent reports. Like the hon. Gentleman but, I suspect, unlike the Secretary of State, I look forward to the publication of the findings of the National Audit Office’s inquiry into whether the Government will have to pay compensation to carbon capture and storage project developers. That could result in a multimillion pound bill for the taxpayer. I hope that the Secretary of State will acknowledge that this might have been an extremely expensive decision indeed. One would be forgiven for imagining that DECC has received instruction from the right hon.”
“However, Ministers are still letting energy companies off the hook and failing to ensure that the drop in wholesale prices is passed on to people’s bills. Will the Secretary of State ensure that the UK ratifies the Paris agreement before the Prime Minister leaves office?”
“As the referendum result was causing political and economic chaos, the final results of the two-year Competition and Markets Authority inquiry into why customers are being overcharged by nearly £2 billion a year for their energy were quietly released. The recommendations are nothing to shout about, as they will not deliver the Prime Minister’s promise from four years ago to put all households on the cheaper tariff. How will the Department introduce more transparency over available deals, and provide support to make it easier for customers to switch, thereby putting an end to the big six milking their loyal customers to maintain profits amid falling wholesale prices? Hundreds of thousands of families cannot afford their energy bills, and in 2014-15 that contributed to 43,900 excess winter deaths.”
“Will that funding still be available for projects already in progress or agreed, such as the four clean energy projects under assessment by the European Fund for Strategic Investments? What funding sources have been identified to replace the opportunities that we will lose for research and development in clean energy to power the future? Have the Government discussed the future of Hinkley Point with EDF and/or the French Government, as a result of the vote to leave? The Government estimated in 2014 that by 2020 the annual net savings to the UK economy for the European energy standards and labelling ecodesign would be in excess of £850 million per year. Will those potential savings be compromised by the process of leaving the EU? The right hon. Lady must begin to answer those questions.”
“SSE has said that collaboration with other European countries on energy matters is important for UK consumers. What calculations or estimates has the Department made of price premiums on loans that will be demanded by investors in UK energy infrastructure to cover the costs of political uncertainty? How much will that add to the cost of building new electricity generating capacity? To reduce that uncertainty, it is imperative that the UK provides a clear direction of travel on domestic policy. Why did the right hon. Lady fail to uphold her statutory obligation under the Climate Change Act 2008, and not take the necessary steps to ensure that the order was set by 30 June? The European Investment Bank is the UK’s biggest clean energy lender, having invested €31.3 billion into British clean energy projects over the past five years.”
“Bloomberg New Energy Finance has warned since the referendum that the uncertainty caused by the result and the upcoming negotiations “is likely to cause project investors and banks to hesitate about committing new capital, and could cause a drop in renewable energy asset values.” The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, which represents more than €30 trillion of assets, said that the aftermath of the vote “brings considerable uncertainty and market turmoil.” These are deeply worrying times, but the Government do not seem to recognise the urgency of quashing such uncertainty and instability. Will the Secretary of State’s Department push for access to the internal energy market as a negotiating priority, and how will the Government gain support from EU member states to accept that?”
“This week the Secretary of State told business that she is certain that investment will continue to flow, yet Siemens has paused clean energy investments in Hull, and according to the Government’s external adviser, a future for Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project is now “extremely unlikely”. That is not Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition “talking Britain down”; that is the Government’s own adviser telling it as it is. Vattenfall is reassessing the risk of working in the UK, which could jeopardise its plans for a £5.5 billion wind farm off England’s east coast.”
“I cannot, I am afraid, because of the time constraints. The Chancellor will not have to make that decision. The Secretary of State is asking us to approve estimates that have about as much chance of remaining solid as an ice cube in a Jamie Oliver stir-fry. This motion is not responsible financial management; it is government by magic wand—think of a number, close your eyes, and make a wish. Will the Secretary of State give a clear answer about her level of confidence that these estimates will be reflected in the outcomes at year end? Ministers insist that Britain is open for business but energy companies have halted major investments in the UK.”
“Simply announcing the Government’s intended carbon budget today, therefore, is not adequate to fulfil the statutory duties placed upon the Secretary of State by the Act. The Act requires the order to be set, not just a draft order to be laid. Mr Speaker, you will be acutely aware of the importance of investors having confidence in the statutory undergirding of our country’s energy and climate change policies. Have you received any notification from the Secretary of State of her intention to come to the House to explain why she is in breach of her statutory duty and to confirm that she will take the steps, which the Clerks advise me could still be taken, necessary to set the fifth carbon budget today?”
“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Today, Thursday 30 June 2016, is the final day for the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to set the fifth carbon budget. Meeting the deadline is a statutory duty under section 4 of the Climate Change Act 2008. Today the Government laid a draft statutory instrument publishing their intention to set a budget of 1,725 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, but as you will be aware, under section 8 of the Act, simply publishing the level of the budget will not suffice: “The Secretary of State must set the carbon budget for a budgetary period by order.” The Act also specifies that it is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.”
“I do not know how contracts for difference are allocated if they are not allocated by the existing methodology.”
“It is a pleasure to serve with you in the chair, Ms Dorries, albeit you are at a lower elevation than might have been supplied with a cushion. I would like to start by saying that I, too, am very sad that my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead) is not standing here to respond to the Minister. He has served this cause of energy in the UK very well as shadow Minister. I think we would all wish to pay tribute to him, with this being the first opportunity. This is quite extraordinary. On the purpose of the instrument, we read in the explanatory memorandum that: “These amendments will not change the way in which Contracts for Difference (CFDs) are allocated, but will make minor changes to the existing allocation methodology”.”
“Brexit has changed the way in which investors in the market look at the UK as a destination for energy investment. Although the Minister rightly tried to reassure investors that the Government want investment to continue, the fact is that investors take a very different view of this.”