The Westminster lensArchive · §02 Speeches · 1,270 contributions

Speeches by Shanks.

Every Hansard contribution by Michael Shanks this parliament, most recent first. Back to the MP page for the headline figures and analysed positions.

Showing 741760 of 1,270 contributions · most-recent first

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DateDebate & contributionWords
2 Jul 2025Scottish Affairs Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 459)

I have not made any analysis of PetroChina’s role in the future of aviation fuel. It was part of the joint venture at Grangemouth. We have engaged with it on the basis of whether it wants to continue to invest in the site. We are ambitious for the future of sustainable aviation fuel, which is why we have a Bill on that

89
2 Jul 2025Scottish Affairs Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 459)

I think this gets to the heart of everything I have been saying so far. We have to do both. This is not an either/or. We need to retain the skilled workforce that we have in the north-east. I visited a maintenance and decommissioning business a couple of weeks ago. It has a huge potential order book of decommissioning

182
2 Jul 2025Scottish Affairs Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 459)

There is an element of the question that I cannot answer. The previous Government’s correspondence is not open to a new Government, so I am not able to access the previous Government’s papers. I will say that, on day one or week one of the job, both the Secretary of State and I were engaged in conversations about the f

345
2 Jul 2025Scottish Affairs Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 459)

As I say, I do not know what conversations, if any, took place before we took office, but I do not see any impediment to Project Willow having started before we came to power. I think it probably could have. It took time to do. I think if the work had started before we came into government, we might have had the conclu

200
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

Since I did not realise in my statement earlier this week that the hon. Gentleman is now the SNP’s energy spokesperson, I welcome him to his place—I hope he will bring the same customary sunshine that his predecessor in the role did to our deliberations in this place. On the incident itself, clearly there are lessons t

energyutilitiesdefence
248
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

I thank my hon. Friend for the question and for her thanks to NESO, which has done a comprehensive job on this report in a fairly short space of time. There are lessons to be learned for Heathrow, and it will be learning those lessons. I am in communication with the Transport Secretary, who of course has immediate resp

energyutilitiesdefence
240
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

I have spoken to colleagues across the Department on these questions. They are rightly constantly looking at how we review our processes. Importantly, they are also working outside of Government and trying to break down some of the silos, so we are co-ordinating with different parts of Government that have different re

energyutilitiesdefence
206
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

First, it is important to say that Heathrow had multiple routes into its electricity network—three in fact—which is unique. This report and the processes identified in the Kelly review will give Heathrow Airport Ltd pause for thought on what it needs to do on how its network is configured and how it can adapt in such s

energyutilitiesdefence
257
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

First, on the point about joining up, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. The response that I have seen from National Grid identifies that as one of the points it will take away. It will look at information sharing and joining up the data in various systems, and at how to ensure that is followed through on. It is impor

energyutilitiesdefence
254
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

I was going to start—and I will, regardless of the rest of that speech—by warmly welcoming the right hon. Lady back to her place as the shadow Secretary of State. I will miss sparring with my Scottish colleague, the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie), although I am sure we will still have

energyutilitiesdefence
646
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

With permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the publication of the report from the National Energy System Operator following its review into the fire at the North Hyde substation on 20 March. NESO’s review was commissioned jointly by the Energy Secretary and Ofgem in the immediate aftermath

energyutilitiesdefence
1,188
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

The hon. Gentleman may be confusing two things. The National Energy System Operator is no longer part of National Grid, as it was made into a publicly owned company by the previous Government, which was introduced by us when we came into Government. So the National Energy System Operator is responsible for managing the

energyutilitiesdefence
248
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to broaden this beyond the electricity system and North Hyde to take in wider questions around critical national infrastructure. He is also right about investing in the future. I always think that grids and networks set the heart racing a little faster, but that is just me. This i

energyutilitiesdefence
251
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his remarks and for the way he made them. He is absolutely right to recognise the heroic role that our emergency services played on the night—I am sorry that I did not say that at the start of my statement—as well as the engineers, who worked in incredibly hard in difficult circumst

energyutilitiesdefence
279
1 Jul 2025Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review

My hon. Friend always reminds me how much he knows about many of these issues; it is hugely welcome. He is right: there are wider lessons to be learned across the system, and not just for large critical national infrastructure. As he says, we have a grid that has many more power stations, of different forms, than we ha

energyutilitiesdefence
190
29 Jun 2025 Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery

I think I got all the hon. Lady’s key points down. Importantly, I agree with many of them. First, I echo the point that she makes about this being shocking news for the workers, as it always is. Given how quickly it has happened, it has been as much a surprise to us, but for the workers it will be particularly shocking

energyeconomy-jobsenvironment
296
29 Jun 2025 Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. First, he is right to restate what I said in the statement—when I brought in the refinery industry for a roundtable, it was frankly extraordinary to be told that it was the first time in 13 years that that had happened. That is an extraordinary state of affairs. I am glad that w

energyeconomy-jobsenvironment
241
29 Jun 2025 Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery

I thank the shadow Minister for rightly reiterating the fact that it is not the whole of the business we are discussing that has gone into administration today. It is really important to say that there is certainty in other parts of the business—we will be able to outline more of that in the days and weeks ahead. I als

energyeconomy-jobsenvironment
385
29 Jun 2025 Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery

With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement about the Prax Lindsey oil refinery. Today its owners have declared insolvency at the refinery, and the Government are urgently acting in response to that deeply concerning news. I know that will be extremely worrying news for workers at the refinery, as we

energyeconomy-jobsenvironment
1,121
29 Jun 2025 Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his questions and his promise to hold us to account; I look forward to that. He was right to reiterate the point that I made at the beginning about the importance of support for the workers, and we are calling for the company’s owners to do the right thing. As for the carbon border adjust

energyeconomy-jobsenvironment
287
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Sources
SourceHansard · official report
MethodEach row is one contribution (intervention or speech). Word count from the official text.