Speeches by Shanks.

“Let me repeat what I said a moment ago: even if we were to take much more gas from our continental shelf, it would still be traded on the international market. The reason why the right hon. Gentleman’s constituents and mine still face a cost of living crisis is our exposure to petrostates and dictators around the world…”

“I take issue with two of those points. First, in the past decade, 100,000 jobs have already been lost from the oil and gas industry, and that happened under a Government whom the hon. Gentleman supported. The industry is changing. We are putting in place a robust set of plans to help the workforce into the jobs of the …”

“I thank the shadow Minister for his support. I have no doubt that in 2025 we will have many debates on the “Clean Power 2030” action plan, and I look forward to hearing his support for our work. As I said in opening the debate, the draft regulations are technical in nature. They are about ensuring security of supply lo…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Electricity Capacity Mechanism (Amendment) Regulations 2024. Good morning and happy new year to all members of the Committee. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning, Mr Efford. The instrument revokes and alters several provisions of the …”

“The hon. Member has raised community energy on a number of occasions in this place, and I know she is a champion of it. She is right to highlight the examples of where community energy can make a huge difference. One of the key areas we want to drive forward is the local power plan, which will be delivered by Great Bri…”

“I cannot comment on the specific details of the case. However, I would like to know more about why the hon. Gentleman’s community might not benefit, because the aim is for all communities affected by hosting infrastructure to benefit in different ways. We are looking at the options—be they money off bills, or the commu…”

“As my hon. Friend knows, we have met Unite on a number of occasions over the past few months since Petroineos made the disappointing decision to follow through on its closure plans for the Grangemouth refinery. It is important that we look at every possible option, and we have done. It is also important that the Govern…”

“My hon. Friend asks an extremely important question. All communities should benefit from the transformation that we want to make to the energy system. Part of the answer is improving how we use smart systems right across the energy system, so that people have much more consumer-led flexibility in their options—we are m…”

“Communities are, and will always be, able to speak about the plans for their local area, and to contribute to consultations and planning applications—we will not change anything about that. However, it is important to say that nationally important infrastructure will need to be built somewhere if we are to have the cle…”

“My hon. Friend is right to suggest that offshore wind, especially floating offshore wind, will play a critical role in our pathway to clean power. We will consider any option to ensure that we get many “test and demonstrate” projects through to delivery, and we will say more in coming weeks about what the next round of…”

“In the spirit of Christmas, I thank the hon. Lady for all the engagement and discussions we have had—[Interruption.] The Conservative Front Benchers groan, but I have joy for their party at Christmas as well. We are absolutely committed to community energy, which was in our manifesto. At every stage of the Bill, we hav…”

“It will not surprise the House that I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend, who, as always, makes an incredibly important point. He is right that stability is key, but so too is this Government’s commitment to invest in community energy. We have committed to upwards of 8 GW of energy from community sources over the…”

“My hon. Friend makes an important point about rolling out charging infrastructure to all parts of the country, and we are working on that with colleagues in the Department for Transport. Local distribution networks in rural areas are incredibly important, and introducing greater access to the grid—including through Ofg…”

“We have made clear, through the clean power action plan that we announced last week, that where communities host clean energy infrastructure, we will ensure that they benefit from it. There are many options in that area, including community funds and direct support for households, and we are exploring all those options…”

“The hon. Gentleman makes an incredibly important point about how local community groups can benefit from not just hosting the community energy, but from being able to sell locally. We have had a number of conversations on this topic already. I most recently met the community energy contact group, which does a lot of wo…”

“Community energy will play a pivotal role in our mission for clean power. Last week, we published the clean power action plan, which contained more information about how we will meet this world-leading mission, and the report confirmed that community energy will play an important role, particularly through Great Britis…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Efford. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham) on securing this debate and for all the work she does in championing her area, and the Celtic sea more broadly. We have had a number of conversations and debates o…”

“That was almost a year ago.”

“I agree with my hon. Friend on that important point. Connection dates on both the generation and demand sides are much too far in the future. We need to build more of the network structure across the country and reform the way we deal with connections, which is ongoing. I am conscious of time and want to give the hon. …”

“It is a pleasure, Sir Christopher, to serve under your chairmanship. I thank the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex (Sir Bernard Jenkin) for introducing the debate, for his approach, and for the engagement we have had on the topic in the short time that I have been in this job. While I suspect we might disagree po…”