Speeches by Shanks.

“I think that would be true if transmission charges were higher in Scotland than in other parts of the UK, but that is not the case. Distribution charges might be lower in certain parts of the rest of the UK, but the transmission charges are higher, taking into account exactly that point. We would like to get the grid i…”

“I do not have time, I am afraid. We are unapologetic that Great British Energy is a long-term project for this country, as part of a sustainable, long-term plan to protect bill payers for good. I stand by that commitment today. However, I also say, as we have said about so much of the mess that we have to clean up, tha…”

“I thank all Members who have made contributions to the debate, and I am grateful for all the points raised in Committee. I thank the witnesses who gave their time to the Committee, as well as the Clerks, House staff and civil servants, who put so much work into legislation such as this. I apologise to the House in adva…”

“I do not have time—I have a minute in which to finish. I hope the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire will recognise that there is really no need to put an amendment such as this one on the face of the Bill. Turning to her amendment on the topic of community energy, she will know, however, that I am passionate about c…”

“Just say it in Gaelic!”

“It is a pleasure to serve in this debate with you in the Chair, Mr Pritchard. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw (Jo White), for securing today’s important debate, and for the passionate way in which she spoke about both this issue and her constituency. It was genuinely inspiring—particularly what she said…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I thank the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Llinos Medi) for securing this important debate. We have been in a number of debates on topics like this over the past few weeks. It is great that her speech reflected that she is a champion of the renewable sector and th…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and for the collegiate way in which he engages in these debates. We will be saying more about the future homes standard in due course, so I will not announce that here, but his point has been heard. I want to come back to the point about balance. It is key in a lot of the…”

“I thank the shadow Minister for his attempt to add an additional clause to the Bill. I will speak briefly about why we do not support new clause 2, but I agree with him on the importance of ensuring that Great British Energy be accountable, transparent and clear about how it is delivering on its objectives. We absolute…”

“Clause 7 has fairly standard wording for a Bill of this kind and for a company of this kind. Under section 441 of the Companies Act 2006, the directors of any company—Great British Energy will of course be one such—are required to deliver annual reports and accounts. The clause simply requires that Great British Energy…”

“I will not detain the Committee long, as we have already discussed aspects of the clause in our debates on the various helpful amendments tabled by the shadow Minister. Clause 6 will ensure that there is a mechanism in place purely for any unforeseen or urgent circumstances that may arise. For example, it could be used…”

“The question of balance, which I was just about to come to, is important. The right to a public inquiry can be triggered by a much smaller number of people in Scotland than in the rest of the UK, so there have been real issues: communities do not generally have a view, so individuals or campaign organisations trigger p…”

“My hon. Friend never misses an opportunity to mention Cornwall, but let us not relitigate our earlier argument. There are huge opportunities. The hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan made the important point that there are certain parts of the country, particularly in the north of Scotland, where for obvious reasons there…”

“I think that doubling down on the language is not helpful either, but I will come back to both those points. I recognise the importance of the point about communities and a more strategic approach to infrastructure to ensure a balance. That is why we have commissioned the National Energy System Operator to look at the …”

“I have to say that of all the amendments before the Committee, I find this one utterly extraordinary. The shadow Minister’s amendment says that Great British Energy “must take all reasonable steps to satisfy itself at the time of any investment in…infrastructure that connection to the National Grid will be made in time…”

“Inspirational!”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for succinctly introducing his amendment; I will be succinct in my response. In debates about previous amendments, I made the points—I will not repeat them—that we should not add unnecessary burdens to the Bill or use the power in clause 6 for different purposes. I know he takes that argument…”

“You were once!”

“Some things are outwith even the hon. Gentleman’s powers. There are a number of reasons why we will resist amendment 20. First—I have made this point a number of times—the Bill is about making the minimum possible provisions to support the establishment of the company. Great British Energy will be operationally indepen…”

“I know that the Conservative party is in shifting political sands at the moment, but I was not expecting this morning to lead with such a full-throated defence of Thatcher—I do not think she is in the running for the leadership of the party.”