Contributions
1,299 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD UK Gas MarketThe hon. and learned Lady is aware that we are entering a comprehensive spending review process at this moment. I am speaking to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor all the time…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketWhat my hon. Friend says is entirely reasonable. I pay tribute to him in his role as Under-Secretary of State in the Scotland Office, where he and I spoke about these issues…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketThe issue of interconnectors is very important. There were clearly incidents with a couple of the interconnectors last week, so we need to guarantee that they are safe, but my…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketThe hon. Gentleman is right that I welcome local initiatives. Only a month ago, I spoke at a forum at which representatives of local government were enthusiastic about getting…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketThe hon. Lady will know that to answer that question we would have to have a much clearer view, in terms of the safety and applicability of hydrogen, for example, in the national…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketAs my hon. Friend knows and has expressed, there are geopolitical elements to this in terms of the reliance of a large part of Europe on Russian gas. I am here to reassure people…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketThe hon. Member knows that I am constantly engaging with the steel sector—in fact, I resuscitated the Steel Council as one of my first acts when I was appointed Secretary of…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketWe have rehearsed the shale gas issue many times on the Floor of the House. As Energy Minister, I was confronted with a situation in which the experiments with shale gas induced a…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketThe hon. Lady knows that we have discussed the heat and building strategy, and I have discussed it personally, on a number of occasions. We have said that it will be published…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketI pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s indefatigability on this issue. There never seems to be a moment when Wylfa is not on her lips, and I fully appreciate her passion for it.…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketI would say that our prices are very competitive. Offshore wind, for example, started off at about £150 per megawatt-hour, and at the last auction round it was £39 per…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketIt would be foolhardy of me to speculate at the Dispatch Box on what the gas price will be even tomorrow. If I were in a position to know what the prices would be at a later date,…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketI do not really follow the hon. Gentleman’s question. On the one hand, he is saying that I am a free marketeer, but then he is asking me whether I think there should be a…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketI would like to thank my right hon. Friend, but he has been in the House long enough to know that VAT and the fuel duty freeze are beyond my remit. However, as I have said many…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketI appreciate that these are talking points that have been given to the hon. Lady by the Whips—20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketI totally understand where that is coming from, but I have said repeatedly that universal credit is an issue across Government and there is no way that I can commit to anything on…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketThere are two issues there. I have said that I have committed to the price cap mechanism, but it is not up to me as Secretary of State to determine what the level of the cap is.…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketAn excellent question from my hon. Friend. All the conversations I have had over the weekend and today have stated clearly and unambiguously that security of supply is not an…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketMy hon. Friend did not mention it in particular, but we have a supplier of last resort process, which has been relied upon over the past few years and involves a transfer of…20 Sept 2021HANSARD UK Gas MarketI am working very closely with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We have spoken to the Treasury, and we are keen to push forward…20 Sept 2021