Speeches by Hobhouse.

“I intend to call the Front-Bench spokespeople at about 7.5 pm. The debate is heavily oversubscribed, so I am putting an informal time limit of two minutes on all speeches. Even with that I might not get everybody in, but let us see how it goes. I call the Chair of the Transport Committee.”

“I will impose a one-minute limit on speeches now, so that we can get as many in as possible.”

“I am sorry, but I will have to stop Back-Bench contributions here. Members have been incredibly good at sticking to a very tight time limit. I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.”

“Order. Will the hon. Gentleman bring his remarks quickly to a close?”

“We are hearing about the previous Government’s efforts to save British Steel, and we have heard a somewhat confusing account of the deal that the now Leader of the Opposition negotiated. If such a deal existed, can we see a record of it?”

“Ineffective energy trading with the EU is a major barrier for global investors. According to Energy UK, we are losing out on £30 billion of investment in interconnectors alone. What will the Government do to improve our energy trading with the EU to unlock this vital opportunity?”

“Autonomous vehicles are the next step into the future. What discussions has the Secretary of State had with UK manufacturers to ensure that they can take full advantage of the next revolution in how we use cars?”

“Should this requirement be removed, Benedict?”

“If we are all wanting the same thing, who is not wanting it? What is the barrier? Is it Ofgem or National Grid? Who is against it?”

“We have already touched on some of this in the previous session, and that is around consumer-led demand systems and how the Government are ambitious to increase this. I was also at a meeting with ADA, the Association of Decentralised Energy, and talked about the benefits that you, Mary, have just been talking about, in…”

“How do you measure that?”

“Do you think they have a role in the Government’s mission to achieve 8 GW of power from communities?”

“Yes, and you want to come in, but I want to continue with other questions.”

“And if the smart meters work. We had a big session on smart meters.”

“This is to everybody. Does the requirement for everything to be connected under the same primary substation not limit the potential to replicate this at scale and apply it to larger renewables? Mary, you have already spoken about this. Steve can go first, and then I will go along the line.”

“Should this requirement be removed, Benedict?”

“Do you have one short comment, since we need to move on?”

“Let us move on to the next question about complexity of local energy clubs. Again to Benedict, we have heard that the regulatory and administrative complexity of setting up local energy clubs limits their future potential. First of all, do you agree, and how would you respond to this criticism?”

“Stephen, would you say that the licence exemptions have very narrow criteria and therefore were not designed to support community energy, but, as we heard, hospitals or other arrangements? Therefore, should there be a more bespoke solution?”

“Steve, do you have anything to add?”