Contributions
1,320 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I am not going to add anything on the £1.7 billion, which is a separate process and a separate factor to the Bill. I have nothing further to add. I have given sufficient detail of…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)He is saying we are either moving too quickly or too slowly. Ms Fovargue, it reflects back to the starting position. If the hon. Gentleman does not mind me saying it, I think he…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Members for Southampton, Test and for Greenwich and Woolwich for amendment 4, which amends the clause governing the process by which the Secretary of State can…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)Let me lay out the purpose of clause 3, which is to set out the procedure that the Secretary of State must follow to designate a nuclear company for the purposes of the nuclear…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Members for Kilmarnock and Loudoun and for Aberdeen North for their contributions on clause 3. I will try to deal with their points. It is important to understand…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, and he is right that that is the purpose of this clause. None the less, the purpose of the clause is also to allow designation for a…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)My hon. Friend makes a very strong point—one made by quite a few people who were in Glasgow just two weeks ago. Ironically, in Scotland, making that argument strongly were not…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)The hon. Gentleman is inviting me to go down a hypothetical road. The devolved Administrations have powers in other areas, and if the devolved Administration was strongly minded…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. The point strikes at the heart of what a Government Minister is doing. I think she is asking what happens if a Government Minister…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I am not going to give way again, because I have set out clearly that the Secretary of State is ultimately accountable to Parliament, and Parliament would find a way of examining…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)The process is as described. It is based on a very good precedent on these sorts of licence modifications. This would not be the first Bill to come along to look at how to modify…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)Amendment 9 addresses how the interests of consumers, which are vital in this process, will be taken into account and what the consequences of that would be. In the Bill as…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I thank the hon. Gentleman for that lengthy intervention. I think that a bill payer’s contribution is not an investment. The objective is to lower the cost overall to the…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)That is a wider debate around nuclear, which I would contest. Obviously, it is an active debate: first, how expensive is nuclear, and secondly, how expensive is it relative to…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)Can I just deal with the hon. Lady’s first intervention? We are seeking to give effect to Government policy, which is to support the roll-out of more nuclear power. How do we do…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)Again, I thank the hon. Member for that intervention. The cost of different forms of power generation is a very interesting part of the energy debate. Obviously those costs move…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I will try to speed up a little. As we know, the clause allows the Secretary of State to make the necessary licence modifications to apply a RAB model to a designated nuclear…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)Amendments 5 and 6 would seek to reduce the length of time a designation remains valid from five to four years and they would reduce the period for which the Secretary of State…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Third sitting)Thank you, Ms Fovargue. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I look forward to working with Committee members as we scrutinise this important and timely Bill. To…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Third sitting)The National Security and Investment Act is also involved, so I do not think it would be appropriate for me to prejudge that process. I would ask whether the project is at a…18 Nov 2021