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UK Government's Energy Policy

The Minister keeps referring to tidal lagoons. We look forward to hearing precisely what will happen in respect of them. We will believe it when we see it. Ports are a critical issue. Many members of the Committee have mentioned the fact that the Labour Government had announced a fund of £60 million available to all ports across the UK. They highlighted Welsh ports in particular, capitalising on the fact that those ports sit in ideal locations, given the arrays in the Irish sea and around Lundy in the Bristol channel, to manufacture and service wind turbines. The Opposition were shocked when, without any explanation, the decision was taken to renege on that position and to provide that money for only English ports, leaving Holyhead and Milford Haven fundamentally disadvantaged. Let us put straight the Labour record on electrification, an area on which we have also heard a lot today. I fear the Government’s misrepresentation on rail electrification. We would have pursued that, just as we pursued, when we were in power, an enormous increase in spending on rail—43% over the last five years of the Labour Government, 60% from 1997 and a doubling of rail freight and rail transport. That is our record. Had we stayed in power, we would have maintained that and electrified as far as Swansea. Our record shows that we were committed to rail, and we would have continued to be so.