Clean Power: Jobs

Since coming to office, the Government have shown how clean power can create jobs across our country, with thousands of jobs in nuclear, through our investments in Sizewell C and small modular reactors; in carbon capture and storage; in offshore wind; and in home heating through our warm homes plan. This is what it means to deliver reindustrialisation through our clean energy sprint.

I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. The north-east is uniquely placed to be the home of the green energy revolution, with the expansion of the Energy Academy in north Tyneside providing a skills pipeline. How will the clean energy industries sector plan help to provide long-term certainty for investment and deliver good quality jobs for communities across my Cramlington and Killingworth constituency and the north-east?

I see the north-east as an absolute powerhouse for the clean energy jobs we want to create. Early on in this Government, we did something which again had been talked about for years by the Conservative party in delivering the east coast carbon capture, usage and storage cluster, which is projected to create thousands of jobs, including benefits for my hon. Friend’s constituency. It is not just the direct jobs that will be created, but jobs in the supply chain. We have an opportunity—the north-east will be at the heart of this—to lead in the clean energy jobs of the future.

I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on critical minerals. Building local supply chains in Cornwall is one of the primary means by which local people can benefit, if we are to dig nearly £1 billion-worth of stuff out of the ground every year or pump 95 GW of offshore wind power onshore. Therefore, what steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that supply chain businesses, particularly those of the size we have in Cornwall, and their workforces get the support they need, so that workers and local communities may share in the spoils of that investment?

Let me first say how much I love Cornwall. I love Cornwall for many reasons, but one reason I love it is the opportunity it offers to drive the jobs of the future. I know from my visit that, whether it is through critical minerals, geothermal or offshore wind, there are huge opportunities in Cornwall. That is what the industrial strategy is designed to superpower. That is what the huge investments my right hon. Friend the Chancellor made in the spending review will provide. As part of our clean energy workforce strategy later on this year, Cornwall will be at the heart of it.

I know that the Secretary of State loves Harlow as well. Does he agree that the historic investment in clean energy secured at the spending review will mean thousands of job opportunities for young people, including in Harlow, in renewable energies, nuclear, energy efficiency and so much more?

I love Harlow, Mr Speaker, and I love Harlow college. The visits I have made to the college have been incredibly inspiring; I have seen with my own eyes the enthusiastic young people there and spoken to them about green skills and the jobs of the future. When I think about what this Government intend to deliver, it is absolutely about my hon. Friend’s constituents in Harlow.

Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating TK Murray Ltd—no relation, honest—an energy-saving contractor based in Kilsyth, on having already cross-trained more than half its workforce to become fully fledged installers of air source heat pump technology from gas boilers? This has been facilitated by Warmworks, which has developed a supply chain of more than 30 small and medium-sized enterprises to make more than 750 green jobs a reality.

I love Cumbernauld, Mr Speaker. My hon. Friend raises the important opportunities in heat pump technology. The growth in heat pumps that we are seeing is not just about a better deal for consumers, but about the manufacturing that we can see. My hon. Friend has given a great example of that.

If the Secretary of State loves Shropshire, and I am sure he does, I hope he will not bulldoze over all our green belt—but that is another story for another day.

The Secretary of State talks about green jobs. I am sure he does not want our fire services to be deployed more and more, but with solar energy feeding into battery energy storage systems, there is real concern at Shropshire fire service and across the country that there will be fires that are very difficult for our fire services to control. Does the Secretary of State agree that our fire services should be a statutory consultee on future planning applications for battery storage?

This is an important issue that we need to take seriously. At the moment, it comes under the health and safety regime, but we are consulting on the best arrangements to ensure that we have the highest standards of safety. There are high safety standards in place, but as we see the growth of batteries, we will endeavour to ensure that those standards are maintained.

It goes without saying that I love Burgess Hill. One brilliant business there is Steve Willis Training, which is this week celebrating 25 years in business, training the region’s future electricity, plumbing and heating engineers. Does the Secretary of State agree that such businesses are vital in delivering the skills of the future, and will he join me in congratulating Steve Willis Training on being a brilliant family business that provides key skills to the south-east?

I warmly congratulate Steve Willis Training on its 25 years in operation and on the work it is doing. The hon. Lady makes an important point: we can help to create jobs in the private sector, but the question then is whether people will have the skills to fill them. Organisations and companies like Steve Willis Training are fundamental to that. Sometimes it requires lots of training; sometimes it requires shorter amounts of training to retrain people in new technologies like heat pumps. It is vital that that training happens.

People across Basildon and Billericay, and indeed across the country, want to see more jobs in energy production and to see cheaper energy. What they do not understand is why the Government are backing some but not all forms of energy. Why are the Government insisting on shipping jobs in oil and gas abroad, rather than keeping them here while investing in green energy at the same time?

The answer is that we are not. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the reality is that the North sea has been a basin in decline and that 70,000 jobs were lost under the previous Government. The question is: do we create the jobs of the future as well as maintaining existing fields for their lifetime? This Government are committed to doing so. If he wants to see those jobs, he should support our plans.

Tempted as I am to wax lyrical about the beauties of Aberdeenshire, I will instead ask the Secretary of State a very simple question. By this time next year, how many jobs will GB Energy have created in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire?

GB Energy will create thousands of jobs across the country, including in Aberdeen. Here is why GB Energy really matters: we have chosen to put its headquarters in Aberdeen, as we recognise that Aberdeen is the clean energy capital of our country—not just for oil and gas, which is important, but for the future. SNP Members are chuntering on the Front Bench, but they never did anything to create that future for people in Aberdeen.