here - United Kingdom Parliament

1647 Oral Answers
6 JUNE 2013
Oral Answers
1648
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
(Mr Edward Davey): The Government have listened to a
wide range of views on the issue of setting a decarbonisation
target and have legislated to set one. We fully recognise
that investor certainty is essential to delivering our
energy and climate goals at the least cost and have
already provided very clear signals to industry about the
long-term trajectory of the electricity sector; for example,
through our commitment to the levy control framework,
through the Energy Bill, through carbon budgets and
through our commitment to ambitious long-run targets
on renewables, power sector decarbonisation and carbon
emission reductions.
Chi Onwurah: When I asked the Prime Minister
yesterday to show some leadership and stand up for
British business and green jobs by setting a target, he
claimed that business was against it, but when the
Secretary of State was asked earlier, he could not name
a single business that opposed it. Can he now name a
business that has thanked him for voting against the
target?
Mr Davey: The hon. Lady needs to look at what has
happened. We have drafted the legislation so that
we can set a target and that has been welcomed. She
should remember that when the draft Energy Bill was
published and we first started to discuss electricity
market reform, there were no proposals to set a power
sector decarbonisation target—not from the Opposition
or from any other party in this House—but I, as Secretary
of State, argued in the Government to set such a target,
and that is what we have done.
Paul Blomfield: We have very little economic growth
in this country at the moment, but last year the CBI
estimated that one third of the growth that there is
comes from green business. To keep growing, green
businesses say they need certainty about Government
policy and they want a target in law to decarbonise the
power sector by 2030. Why are the Government refusing
to listen?
Mr Davey: I am afraid it is the Opposition who are
refusing to listen. They should look at the Energy Bill,
in which we have legislated for the power to set a
decarbonisation target—the first country in the world
to do so.
Alison Seabeck: On Tuesday, the Government said
they opposed the 2030 decarbonisation target, in part
on the ground that it would increase bills. If that were
so, one would expect Fuel Poverty Action to agree with
the Government, but it does not. Instead, it said:
“in failing to set a target for clean energy, the Government has yet
again let down hard-up UK households.”
Will the Secretary of State explain his position in the
light of that statement and say whether it would also
apply to his long-grass target?
Mr Davey: I am afraid the hon. Lady has not read the
Bill; she needs to go back and do some more research.
The difference in the debate has been about when the
target is set, not if a target is set. The new clause tabled
by my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk
(Mr Yeo) dealt with whether it should be set in 2014; the
Government have legislated to give us the power to set it
in 2016, 14 years before it needs to be met. That is an
ambitious position and we are yet again leading the
world.
Diana Johnson: On Tuesday, most Liberal Democrat
MPs tore up their own party policy to join the anti-green
Tories in voting down a carbon target, which would
have provided the certainty needed for Siemens finally
to commit to coming to Hull. Would the Government
have shown greater urgency if it was about jobs in
Kingston upon Thames, rather than Kingston upon
Hull?
Mr Davey: I worry about all the Kingstons in the
United Kingdom and as Secretary of State for Energy
and Climate Change, I represent all of them. I am
working extremely hard to make sure we get investment
in the energy sector in this country and we are working
with Siemens. The hon. Lady may be interested to know
that, in fact, Siemens did not sign the most recent letter
from a number of companies about this issue. In our
discussions with Siemens, the issues that have come up
are contracts for difference, strike prices, ports and
infrastructure, and we are working with the company.
The hon. Lady ought to get behind us and support us.
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con): One of the
key ways the Government can decarbonise power generation
is by increasing investment in the nuclear sector. URENCO
has a base in Capenhurst in my constituency. In April,
the Government announced that they were to sell their
one third share in the company, and in May the Dutch
Government announced that they would sell their one
third share. Will my right hon. Friend update the House
on the progress of the sale?
Mr Davey: We will give a full update in due course,
but URENCO is owned by three countries—Germany,
the Netherlands and the UK—and we are working
closely with our partners to take the sale forward.
Mr Nicholas Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East) (Lab):
The Secretary of State’s answer to my hon. Friend the
Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central (Chi Onwurah)
was not satisfactory. How does he account for the
dramatic decline in levels of private sector investment in
the renewables sector?
Mr Davey: Since this Government came to power,
there has been a very big increase in investment in
renewables. It is true that in the past few months the
investment has not continued at the rate that we have
seen. Why is that? Because people are waiting for the
draft strike prices for contracts for difference for renewables,
which we will publish next month. We are making real
progress on our electricity market reform, and I am
delighted to remind the House that on Tuesday this
House voted for the Energy Bill on Third Reading by
396 votes to 8. That shows that we have cross-party
support for our reforms and we are taking them forward.
Mid-Wales Connection Project
5. Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con): What
assessment he has made of the level of support for
onshore wind in those areas affected by the mid-Wales
connection project. [158079]