Speeches by Ryan.

“I thank the Minister for his White Paper. At the back of it, there are five pages of powers that are not currently enjoyed by Lancashire, as a foundation authority. Will he agree to work with partners in Lancashire to ensure that we can get a deal done and over the line for a mayoral and a reorganisation package? Lanca…”

“And specifically for the revenue support agreement?”

“On the reasonable worst-case scenario for the revenue support agreement, which you just referenced in connection with transport and storage, is that relevant just to transport and storage or to the whole-scheme cost or the potential liability?”

“Which you feel you can do because you can move supply elsewhere.”

“It reinforces my view that this is an offset like when you buy a ticket on a budget airline—you pay a cost and you realise that you may not get much out of it, but you have paid it because you feel like you need to offset the carbon somewhere. You have bought a pack of loo roll and you need to pay to plant the tree; th…”

“Ms Konar, when you answered the Chair’s question, I think the answer was generally, “No, we do not take a stake, but it would be one to look at in the future.” That was an interesting conversation, and I would like to see us look at that in the future. You said that it is in essence because we get the benefit of carbon…”

“It sort of feels like cash, cash, cash, but it is all justified because of the benefit of taking carbon out. That is the argument, isn’t it?”

“That is what worries me—the revenue support agreement. I realise that the next two of them—the two biggest ones—are associated with decommissioning or it not going ahead. I feel we are slightly too far down the track.”

“I have a question on a point of information, and it relates to Question 1, which I realise feels like it was about four hours ago. Will the Committee see the contract that has been agreed already?”

“That makes sense.”

“I start by thanking the Secretary of State and my hon. and gallant Friend the Minister for Veterans and People for their intense understanding of this issue and of the whole veterans’ community. This debate comes at a critical juncture in the story of these people—these people of service who have been let down by our n…”

“I completely accept that. As a political argument, without drifting into the policy area, there is something to be said for this idea. When the value-for-money assessment is made, I would like to see a little less of that and more of the economic benefits to the thing, and more of the fact that it will be mega-efficien…”

“Thank you all for being here. To touch on the history, it is hard not to be sceptical about the basis of the industry. To be honest, it feels a little bit like paying one group of people to dig a hole, paying another group of people to fill it in, and hoping that there is some kind of ecological output that helps us me…”

“Yes please—and what you have done in trying to address safeguards in the new round, to make sure that historic failures, for whatever reason, whether political or operational, do not happen again.”

“On that last point, I realise they were at different stages, but will this round that has been agreed be more expensive than the previous rounds would have been had they been agreed? My caution is that you have to provide some sort of assurance to an industry that you have created, and you have to provide some confiden…”

“A lot of what I was going to ask about has been covered by my colleague; it was a good line of questions. You spoke before, Mr Pocklington, about a value-for-money judgment coming at a later date. What do you say to those people who say, “Look, this isn’t really about the value for money. This is the cost of being able…”

“Turning to the contingent liabilities for some of these schemes, the numbers associated with the maximum exposure and the reasonable worst-case scenario in the track 1 cluster are huge. What steps are you taking to minimise the risk that these schemes are not realised? As Mr Esterson touched on, we politicians are havi…”

“My worry, I suppose, is that people have to do this because Government tells them to do it. They then do it and Government pays them to do it. They then put it back out and Government gives them more money to do more of it later. Then the cycle keeps going round, and at every stage, the taxpayer pays.”

“I recently visited Heasandford primary school in my constituency, which is in a dire state. Will the Minister meet me and Lancashire county council to see what we can do to repair the school—the biggest in Lancashire by class number—and make sure that it is fit for children’s ambitions in Burnley?”

“I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. She, like me, is a great champion for young people, and I am glad to hear her comments and commitments today about the new national youth strategy. This funding will be a lifeline to youth workers and to youth organisations such as the Burnley Boys and Girls Club, Parti…”