Contributions
1,014 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDDrax Power Station: BiomassIn January 2024, the previous Government launched a consultation on supporting large-scale biomass generators when existing support ends in 2027. Since this Government came to…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationAt the risk of getting into trouble with those responsible for tax matters, I simply say that this is a windfall mechanism that does exactly the same thing, and it does exactly…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationMy hon. Friend summarises the importance of the deal clearly. We have limited the expected rate of return for Drax to a level below that of monopolies regulated by Ofgem. We have…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationAfter an urgent question and a statement, I hope that I will not still be standing here in 15 years’ time, and I suspect the House will support that. Let me be really clear. I do…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationMy hon. Friend is right that this is a good deal, in the short term, to ensure security of supply into the early-2030s, which was key to NESO’s advice on the basis of security of…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationThe right hon. Gentleman is right that we want “credible low carbon alternatives”. I will look at the specific points he mentions, but we do not see such generators as key to the…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationMy hon. Friend is right that one of the really important outcomes of the new deal is that instead of cheaper wind and solar power being displaced by Drax when it operated with…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationWe do not have a mechanism to claw back past profits from any company—that is not something that Governments are able to do. What we can do is move forward with a fair system that…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationI can give my hon. Friend that assurance. We have significantly reduced the ability of Drax to make profits, but we have also ensured that if there are excess profits, they are…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationThe right hon. Gentleman will not draw me into the ongoing competition on small modular reactors, but he has made the case for his preferred company. Last week, the Prime Minister…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationThe point of having an independent adviser is that, while the role of the Low Carbon Contracts Company as the counterparty to the contract for difference we have agreed and the…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationThat is good to know. I am proud that, as a country, we have moved past coal-fired power generation, which is incredibly destructive for our environment. We closed the last coal…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationI was not aware that it is the Reform party’s policy to reopen the coalmines—10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationMy hon. Friend makes the point for me. He forgets, of course, that the Conservatives are under new management, so it is all fine—we just forget everything that happened in the…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationThe hon. Gentleman makes an important point, although I would gently point out that the shadow Minister and I agree on a lot more than he likes to pretend—or I like to pretend,…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationI am tempted to say that we will have to ask the Conservatives that question, but they are under new management, so they do not know why the previous Government that they were all…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationI agree with the hon. Gentleman’s point, and I reiterate that we wish we were not in the position we were in when we came into government, whereby this was the only option that…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationOn the start of my hon. Friend’s question, I agree. This Government were deeply concerned about sustainability practices at Drax and, frankly, about the level of subsidy that was…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationTransparency is important, so I am very happy to publish what we can. Elements of that analysis, such as details of how Drax runs its power station, will be commercially…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBiomass GenerationMy hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. The sustainability criteria are important, but he is right that making sure they are met is important too. This is a contract…10 Feb 2025