Speeches by Stuart.

“The only doubling down being done is by the Minister, who insists that we import more from abroad. Where energy is produced makes no difference to how much we consume. It can either be produced abroad or it can be produced here, with jobs, tax and lower emissions. Why on earth would he choose for it to be done abroad?”

“Does the hon. Gentleman realise—he may not, because I know that some of the stuff he is fed by those on the Government Front Bench may not help him—that whereas only 6.5% of electricity came from renewables in 2010, the proportion was over 50% when we left power? He can criticise the Conservative Government all he like…”

“Does the hon. Gentleman agree that we also need to see the hydrogen storage and transport model issued by the Government as quickly as possible?”

“I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker. If I said anything to that effect, I withdraw it.”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“It is a pleasure to take part in this debate and to follow the hon. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge), who follows in a tradition of Government Back Benchers standing up and trying to make the case for the utterly insane, the truly crazy and the utterly groundless. I feel more sorry for the hon. Lady …”

“My right hon. Friend is right. I was incredulous when listening to the incredible things that the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire said. Let me go back to this big, passionate attack. That production will not change the global oil price, but it will help to employ 200,000 people in this country, with all the engine…”

“I am grateful to the right hon. Lady, who is being very generous in giving way. She is nearly making the right point, which is that the people who work in oil and gas need the transition. This Government are pulling the rug from under them. Hydrogen, carbon capture, floating offshore wind and other developing technolog…”

“For the purposes of today, I will leave aside the renewables market, but I notice that RenewableUK agrees with the chief executive of Octopus Energy that it is crazy, along with the heads of the unions responsible. They all agree that this is crazy. There is going to be a U-turn, and we are going to have the comic sigh…”

“Does my right hon. Friend, like me, feel sorry not only for all the consumers up and down the country who see billions of taxes that could be paid if we just produced more oil and gas here—that could be used to lower their taxes when they fill up their cars and travel to work—but for the two Ministers on the Front Benc…”

“The Minister will be aware that major hydrogen projects in the Humber area, including those led by National Gas, are ready to go. They are vital to our region, which has £18 billion of value-add and 360,000 jobs, but without certainty from Government, investors cannot commit. When will the Government open the allocatio…”

“If we were to accept the argument that it would make no difference to the international price—notwithstanding the fact that there are global markets and that supply and demand leads to much lower prices in some places than in others—we are still talking about billions of pounds in forgone taxes, which could be used to …”

“Will the right hon. Lady give way?”

“The Minister has been most generous in giving way. He will know that Harbour Energy was the single largest producer in the North sea—it is leaving. He will know that it has been devastating for so many workers in the industry. He will also know that, by all projections, in 2050 this country will still be dependent on o…”

“The hon. Gentleman is making an impassioned speech and we hear where he is coming from, but over the 14 years of Conservative Government, 800 jobs were created every day and unemployment was brought down to near record lows. Since his party has come to power, with the mission that he is describing, what has happened? U…”

“The hon. Lady is giving a powerful speech. On behalf of her generation, is she disappointed that, having promised to reduce the costs for graduates repaying student loans, the Government are making it worse? Is she disappointed that, when challenged over this broken system, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that the…”

“I am trying to follow the mental perambulations of the left. The argument seems to be that people from working-class backgrounds can go on courses that lead them to have negative outcomes—poor earnings—and that the very course they are on, which does them little good, with so much promised and so little delivered, actu…”

“Would the hon. Lady not find it rather worse if we were not reflecting on our time in power and the fact that we were thrown out and were not trying to come forward with constructive proposals to make things better? The important thing is to listen to people like the hon. Lady and our constituents, reflect and come for…”

“The hon. Gentleman said that the Government are helping young people, and mentioned transport. Bus fares have gone up by 50%, from £2 to £3; for somebody who travels every day to work and back, that is £500 a year out of taxed income. That is not helping. Fuel duty is going to go up in September—that is not helping. Th…”

“It is a pleasure to participate in this debate. Graduates were promised a fair deal, and we have heard all the promises that were made from when the current Prime Minister stood to be Leader of the Opposition to the announcements that were made afterwards. People were told to work hard, go to university and have a shot…”