Contributions
1,496 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I beg to move amendment 13, in clause 8, page 8, line 11, leave out from “power” to end of line. This amendment strengthens the requirement on the Secretary of State to publish…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)The hon. Member makes a good point. We have a number of nuclear reactors in Europe that look like they can produce energy, and they are still standing there not producing energy,…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)We would be in a sorry place, but that is effectively what the clause appears to state. It is all about the fact that it could produce energy, not that it does produce energy.…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I concede that I may not have fully understood all the various tests that are undertaken to usual industry standards, but nowhere in this clause does it say that those tests…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I beg to move amendment 10, in clause 7, page 7, line 17, after “operations” insert “and have generated power for placement onto the National Grid”. This amendment amends the…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)That is very disappointing. The Minister has effectively said that the customer has no say in this arrangement. He used the phrase “reduce the options to Ministers”; yes, this…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)With these amendments, we get to the heart of the consumer interest in the Bill. They are closely related, so it is appropriate that they are grouped and spoken to together. As I…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I beg to move amendment 11, in clause 7, page 7, line 8, at end insert— “(3A) When exercising the power in subsection (1), the Secretary of State must not cause the excess of…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I fully accept that the Minister did not look that up at lunchtime and that he is fully apprised of the circumstances surrounding the South Carolina project. However, does he not…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)The Minister puts that as a binary choice, but it is not because there are circumstances. That is essentially what happened in South Carolina. A number of people thought that it…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I hope that the hon. Member will forgive me if I have not made myself clear. I am certainly not saying that consultation is a bad thing or that there should be less of it; I am…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)Sorry. I was just wondering to myself whether the Minister had looked all this up during lunchtime. If so, I congratulate him on doing so.18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Third sitting)I am afraid the Minister cannot have it both ways. Either the Bill is about financing Sizewell C or it is about financing nuclear power more generally, in which case Bradwell…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Third sitting)Was it, indeed, as the hon. Member for Bolsover suggests from a sedentary position, diplomatic? If so, was that diplomatic answer given after any sort of instigation from the…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Third sitting)It is quite possible that the Secretary of State could deem the first two criteria on the basis of work that the company had done to approach designation. However, unless the…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I beg to move amendment 9, in clause 6, page 5, line 13, at end insert— “(ba) the interests of existing and future consumers of electricity in relation to their prospects of…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)I rise to speak to amendment 7, in clause 5, page 4, line 16, leave out “either” and insert “any”. This amendment is consequential on amendments 2 and 3. This amendment was tabled…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Third sitting)Yes, indeed. The hon. Gentleman is right, to the extent that the amendment does not actually guarantee the success of a project as a result of its placement in the designation…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Fourth sitting)Yes, indeed. This is perhaps a separate debate, but we have a position not just on this particular instance of nuclear power, but on similar arrangements that relate to the RIIO…18 Nov 2021HANSARDNuclear Energy (Financing) Bill (Third sitting)The hon. Member makes an important point, at least part of which we will discuss when we come to the procedures under which a potentially failed project might be rescued or…18 Nov 2021