Speeches by Onn.

“I am old enough to remember when a Conservative Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said that he wanted Grimsby to be the Riyadh of offshore wind. I also remember the shadow Energy Secretary, the right hon. Member for East Surrey (Claire Coutinho), attending offshore wind conferences and championing the sector, so where she…”

“I disagree with that, but I urge the Government to be prepared to open up on some of the process. I understand that there will be commercial sensitivities, but I hope that a route can be found to enable us to scrutinise the information available.”

“We have also had trusted privilege, as a House, in the past; we were able to see secure information and secure documents. All of us were able to go to a room and sign in to read documents on exiting the European Union, for example. There are ways and means of doing these things, and of placing trust in elected represen…”

“On the point about keeping UK oil refineries competitive, what will be the Government’s position at the European Union summit in May, in discussions on the emissions trading scheme? What will they take forward?”

“Utilita has provided us with some evidence, which says that “the regulator’s current approach to regulation overly focuses on prescriptive processes rather than consumer outcomes.” I am interested to know whether you think that is the case and why it is wrong if you disagree. It continues: “The regular approach of iden…”

“I can imagine what you were in Lincolnshire discussing. Chris Stark, would you describe yourself as a zealot?”

“On generating confidence in the community, I wonder whether zealotry, or a sense of having blinkers on or not being sensitive to what I think is a change in public attitude, is a problem in terms of where the message carriers come from, from a Government perspective.”

“You mentioned in your previous response home-grown energy. You were talking about it in the context of security—7,000 jobs, £22 billion-worth of investment—but much of it is not home grown. Our resources are home grown, some of the personnel is home grown, but much of it is not. Much of it is brought in from the Middle…”

“Why have you not come to Grimsby?”

“Don’t tell me about Hull!”

“We have been saying that for a very long time now. I do not want to rain on your parade and I am very supportive. We have Siemens across the river in lovely Hull, and two big operations and maintenance bases in my constituency. I have long recognised that there is opportunity, but this is the same thing that has been s…”

“I wonder if there is anything that says, “This is enough” or “This is the crux of the story” and is going to sell it—something that says that we are on a trajectory to great things in the future.”

“We’ll get you back when we get 7,000 jobs.”

“Okay. DESNZ has a public attitudes tracker, and the headline findings from summer last year say that in the short term 69% expect the transition to net zero to increase their living expenses, up from 65%, with only 7% saying that they expect a decrease. In the long term, 50% expected an increase in living expenses and …”

“Do you think the opportunity to become a net exporter of energy will help in the narrative with the general public?”

“Presumably, vulnerability will include people who do not have access to the internet and will not find it easy to access Ofgem’s website.”

“How many consumers do you think go to the Ofgem website?”

“We know that three quarters of consumers—not even vulnerable consumers; all consumers—are confused by their energy bills. If you have released a vulnerability study, presumably you are expecting to see a quite rapid turnaround on that figure that three quarters of people do not know what their bill means when they open…”

“Do you disagree with its assessment that you are “out of touch”?”

“Yet Citizens Advice says that regulators and suppliers are “out of touch” with everyday bill pressures and explicitly blames Ofgem for failing to act against unfair energy suppliers for nearly a decade, which has, as we have recognised, upset and concerned lots of people, the vulnerability around the price shocks leavi…”