Speeches by Shanks.

“Our clean power action plan is to decarbonise the power system, so it is not going to be our position that, post 2030, we should see unabated gas. That is very clear from us, but there is a need for us to provide capacity for the data centres that we want to bring to this country, for hugely important economic growth r…”

“We have not given a view, because there have not been any proposals brought forward. By 2030, we are trying to phase out the role of unabated gas in our power system.”

“The balance is that we have to weigh the role that it might play in our supply chain against any national security risks, and national security always comes first. That assessment is critical and then we assess the role that it might play in the supply chain.”

“That is the vision we really have. Solar panels on the rooftop of the school are great. I have visited a number of them. They reduce the bills of the school. The money goes straight back into schools and they spend it on all the things we want schools spending money on, but you can see a school as a real hub for commun…”

“We said in our manifesto when we were elected as a Government that we wanted to significantly change the ownership of energy in this country. That remains absolutely our ambition. It has not changed. This plan is around how we take the initial steps to get to these projects going from, at the moment, a very low startin…”

“Ambition or target—I do not know. You can call me back if I am fortunate enough to be here in 2030 and ask me that question again.”

“Is it me? I agree with that. I agree with myself. There are multiple ways of looking at this. There is a straightforward way of communities benefiting directly, and you heard earlier on about the reforms that will allow communities to net off supply versus demand so that they do benefit from that. There are also ways—a…”

“I am not going to give advice to them. What we have said is that we want to strategically plan where our AI growth zones are, so that we are making use of constraints, wherever possible, and benefiting from things that we are currently spending money on. Secondly, we want to try to connect as many demand projects to th…”

“It certainly is not. We want to phase out the use of gas. Gas will continue to play a strategic role in the capacity market, where we absolutely need it, but it will be less than 5% of our need.”

“Respectfully, I disagree. I think £250 off a bill will have a massive impact on communities. The point of it is to give a recognition that, if you are hosting infrastructure, you should benefit from it directly. That is our commitment on transmission infrastructure. We will say more about the wider community benefits, …”

“I have not seen any proposals for individual projects, but we have been very clear that, post 2030, this country should have decarbonised its power system, and we are doing everything to make that happen.”

“What I said previously is that we are not going to fix a number on it, but there has to be a mix. The reason that I am saying that is that I want to avoid putting a number on it and that then being seen as a ceiling on our ambition on either local or on community. I do not make any judgment about one being better than …”

“We will put a definition on a statutory footing, so that it is very clear to everyone what the Government define community energy as. That is a very good definition, but community-owned energy will be slightly narrower than some of those points. It picks up on the key elements that it is about the ownership structure, …”

“We recognise that the cost of living is affecting people across the country. The £150 in April is a serious commitment from this Government that people will feel in their bills. It will make a meaningful difference to people, but that is not the end of our ambition. Everything else that we are doing is, first of all, a…”

“Let me say first that smaller-scale projects have been taken out of the queue altogether. I should say that this is not in Scotland. For different reasons in Scotland and the islands it is much lower. In the rest of the UK, raising it to 5 MW takes out a large number of those community energy projects from that queue a…”

“I did not see all of the previous panel, but if I understand the point, it comes down to defining community energy, which is something that we will do. That is not quite the same, and so we do need to come up with a definition of community energy. Many people think, “Why is that complex?” The reason it is complex is th…”

“Just to give you an example, a few months ago, I was at a conference in Glasgow, where Community Energy Scotland was referencing some of the data in Scotland where community energy is not defined in a clear enough way. The number of projects that are, in fact, owned by landowners, not by communities, is really quite si…”

“I would challenge that. I see my job as a Minister not to just sit behind a desk and say yes or no to things, but to drive forward the outcomes of what we have said. Before I was an MP and before I was a teacher, I worked in an organisation that was all about outcomes, not about activity. It was about saying, “You can …”

“I will say a few things, and then Emma might want to come in on the KPIs point. The local power plan sets out the narrative on why we are doing this and the case for it. It will also have a whole series of actions that have very clear outcomes to them. We will then be judged on how we have achieved those outcomes. They…”

“I am responsible and the Secretary of State is responsible, but it is a shared endeavour between Government, Great British Energy and communities. I want to emphasise that. When we publish the local power plan, yes, it details what Government will do and the offer from Great British Energy, but it is designed and frame…”