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Adjournment debate on Thursday, 12 January 2006, in the House of Commons, led by Alan Johnson.

Security of Supply

Debate on a motion for the adjournment on the security of supply (energy)

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
441 c486-534 
Session
2005-06
Department
Department of Trade and Industry
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Gas Supply Infrastructure
Tuesday, 16 May 2006
Written statements
House of Commons
Energy: Gas Supply Infrastructure
Tuesday, 16 May 2006
Written statements
House of Lords
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 441 c501 (Link to this contribution) Order. I must remind the House that Mr. Speaker has placed an eight-minute limit on Back-Bench speec...
Malcolm Wicks | 441 c534 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend knows that we are still considering that issue, but we will respond as soon as possib...
Show all contributions (127)
Malcolm Wicks | 441 c532-4 (Link to this contribution) I was thinking of my London School of Economics tutor’s more generous comment on my first essay—““A ...
Malcolm Wicks | 441 c531 (Link to this contribution) I agree that we have had an excellent debate with some significant contributions. I welcome the hon....
Lord Davies of Stamford | 441 c532 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister take an early opportunity after the debate to have a word with his right hon. Frie...
Malcolm Wicks | 441 c532 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Leader of the House will note that point. Only yesterday, coal was debated in Wes...
Andrew Smith | 441 c532 (Link to this contribution) Would not the Opposition have a somewhat stronger case in the debate that we all want if the Front B...
Alan Duncan | 441 c497 (Link to this contribution) Well, if it is not true, I look forward to the Minister saying so when he winds up, so that it is on...
Alan Duncan | 441 c499 (Link to this contribution) That is quite a serious point, and it is not an unreasonable one. Markets, in my view, serve the int...
Alan Duncan | 441 c499 (Link to this contribution) I give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie).
Alan Duncan | 441 c499 (Link to this contribution) One day, the hon. Gentleman will move on, but I am waiting.
Paddy Tipping | 441 c499 (Link to this contribution) I am waiting too; I have been waiting a long time. The hon. Gentleman has made a great deal of the r...
Alan Duncan | 441 c498-9 (Link to this contribution) I am certainly a beacon of something, but I am not sure of what. I look forward to reading that repo...
Paddy Tipping | 441 c499 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way before he moves on?
Alan Duncan | 441 c498 (Link to this contribution) Well, it needs to be put there again. Woking borough council has shown what it is possible to do in...
Malcolm Wicks | 441 c498 (Link to this contribution) I am enjoying the hon. Gentleman’s cleaner and greener remarks, but I wished to point out that becau...
Alan Duncan | 441 c495 (Link to this contribution) No, there definitely have been. I was grounded for two hours on the apron the other day. [Interrupti...
Dennis Skinner | 441 c496 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Alan Duncan | 441 c496 (Link to this contribution) It is always a deep pleasure to give way to the hon. Gentleman.
Dennis Skinner | 441 c496 (Link to this contribution) If the shadow Minister is so concerned about clean coal technology, why, when the Tories were in pow...
Alan Duncan | 441 c496-7 (Link to this contribution) I supported the closure because the technology was not ready and the economic argument was not convi...
Alan Duncan | 441 c495-6 (Link to this contribution) Of course it was a big fire. It was exactly the kind of security issue that we have to grapple with ...
David Leslie Taylor | 441 c496 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has mentioned the potential for clean coal technology. There has been a bonfire o...
Alan Duncan | 441 c496 (Link to this contribution) It is very sad that the Britain’s most modern deep mine, which is in my constituency, ended up being...
Robert Smith | 441 c503-5 (Link to this contribution) I declare my entry in the Register of Members’ Interests as a shareholder in Shell. I welcome the c...
Mike Weir | 441 c505 (Link to this contribution) : Is there not a danger in relying too heavily on gas coming through the interconnector from the Eur...
Nicholas Brown | 441 c501-3 (Link to this contribution) The context of today’s debate must be global warming—the most important single problem that this cou...
Alan Duncan | 441 c507 (Link to this contribution) Following on from my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski), under wha...
Robert Smith | 441 c505-7 (Link to this contribution) We need an open market with similar storage regimes at both ends of the interconnector so that forwa...
Daniel Kawczynski | 441 c507 (Link to this contribution) : Are the Liberal Democrats totally opposed to any future investment in the next generation of nucle...
Robert Smith | 441 c507-8 (Link to this contribution) At the current time, we do not believe that it would make sense to invest in nuclear power stations,...
Eric Illsley | 441 c508-9 (Link to this contribution) I greatly welcome the debate but it is a pity that we have been given only three hours for it, appro...
Adam Afriyie | 441 c499 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend may not be aware that Centrica’s headquarters is based in my constituency. At a recen...
Alan Duncan | 441 c500 (Link to this contribution) I fully agree with my hon. Friend. That, too, will be a serious focal point for the energy review.
Alan Duncan | 441 c500 (Link to this contribution) I hope that hon. Members will forgive me if I do not give way. I do not want to deprive the many Mem...
Lord Whitehead | 441 c500 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to what the hon. Gentleman is saying, especially his comment that a number ...
Alan Duncan | 441 c500 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman had listened a bit more carefully, he would have heard the rest of what I said...
David Drew | 441 c500 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Alan Duncan | 441 c500-1 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman forgive me for not giving way? He has already intervened and perhaps he can ...
Joan Walley | 441 c490 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend accept that there is a difference between scarcity of supply and gas price...
Alan Johnson | 441 c490 (Link to this contribution) Those two interventions have achieved their purpose. We recognise the need to move swiftly, and we a...
Paddy Tipping | 441 c489-90 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) has made a strong point about Haworth colliery,...
Alan Johnson | 441 c489 (Link to this contribution) Not entirely correct. My hon. Friend the Minister for Energy was saying to me that we are aware of t...
Dennis Skinner | 441 c489 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State paints a long-term picture of diminishing oil and gas, problems with nuclear ...
Alan Johnson | 441 c489 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for correcting that, on the record, in Hansard.
Joan Ruddock | 441 c489 (Link to this contribution) I know how scrupulous my right hon. Friend is in other presentations, and I am sure that his remark ...
David Drew | 441 c488-9 (Link to this contribution) On nuclear, even at this late stage, will my right hon. Friend reconsider the decision to sell Westi...
Alan Johnson | 441 c489 (Link to this contribution) I thought long and hard about this issue, as did my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy. In effect, ...
Tobias Ellwood | 441 c488 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that had the EU sorted out a proper gas market two or three year...
Alan Johnson | 441 c488 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I will deal with that during my speech.
Robert Smith | 441 c488 (Link to this contribution) The unfortunate thing about that reassurance from the Chancellor is that it contradicts his reason f...
Alan Johnson | 441 c488 (Link to this contribution) The Chancellor pointed out in his pre-Budget report the corresponding taxes on exploration in the Un...
Bernard Jenkin | 441 c488 (Link to this contribution) Gas production in the UK is effectively taxed at a rate of 75 per cent., which is one of the highest...
Alan Johnson | 441 c487-8 (Link to this contribution) We have issued more licences in the past year than ever before—a record number. In regard to the tax...
Alan Johnson | 441 c494 (Link to this contribution) Yes, indeed. International law requires us to do that, so it will be an important part of our review...
Adam Afriyie | 441 c493-4 (Link to this contribution) At the same time as the review, and the Government, are considering the regulation governing the sto...
Alan Johnson | 441 c493 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. That is exactly the issue at the heart of the review—not onl...
Philip Hollobone | 441 c493 (Link to this contribution) Is it not the case that, because we shall now be importing such a huge amount of gas, Britain’s elec...
Alan Duncan | 441 c494 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Secretary of State for giving us this debate. It has been some time a-coming; we have be...
Alan Johnson | 441 c494 (Link to this contribution) There may be, and we shall look at that element in the review. It has been raised with us, but we ha...
John Grogan | 441 c494 (Link to this contribution) Is there a case for giving Ofgem power to oversee offshore gas as well as onshore gas so that it can...
Alan Johnson | 441 c493 (Link to this contribution) I shall take one more intervention, and then I shall make some progress.
Michael Clapham | 441 c492 (Link to this contribution) In the next 18 months to two years, 28 per cent. more gas is likely to be available as it comes down...
Alan Johnson | 441 c492-3 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not rush to that kind of conclusion, but I agree that it highlights the need for diversity ...
Alan Johnson | 441 c491 (Link to this contribution) I am aware of the problems in Carlisle, and of the enormous efforts made by my hon. Friend, as a con...
Andrew Miller | 441 c491 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Alan Johnson | 441 c491-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend brings me to the next part of my speech, which is about the energy review. As I have ...
Andrew Miller | 441 c491 (Link to this contribution) The point raised by our hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew) is important in the a geop...
Alan Johnson | 441 c492 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman’s interventions are beautifully timed. I was about to say that, thanks to the wor...
Tobias Ellwood | 441 c492 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for allowing me to intervene a second time. The Gover...
Alan Johnson | 441 c490 (Link to this contribution) I shall come to that shortly, but it is the spot market that is causing a problem. I know from recen...
John Hemming | 441 c490 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State agree that one of the difficulties with the market is that the vast majo...
Alan Johnson | 441 c490 (Link to this contribution) We should see the position in proportion. The problems are really affecting intensive energy users. ...
Eric Martlew | 441 c490-1 (Link to this contribution) I believe that there is a sixth dimension. Only a year ago, my constituency experienced the worst fl...
Joan Ruddock | 441 c521-2 (Link to this contribution) Unlike the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff), I warmly welcomed the energy White Paper...
Richard Ottaway | 441 c523-4 (Link to this contribution) Much as I was looking forward to the prospect of giving lengthy advice to my constituent—the Ministe...
Joan Ruddock | 441 c522-3 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, I cannot. If we cannot cope with solving our CO2 emissions without new nuclear build, w...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 441 c515-6 (Link to this contribution) I cannot as I am trying not to go into extra time. Against that background, I do not think that ene...
Frank Dobson | 441 c515 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Peter Luff | 441 c518-21 (Link to this contribution) I suppose that every Select Committee Chairman thinks that the subject his Committee covers is the m...
Colin Burgon | 441 c516-8 (Link to this contribution) The recent dispute between Russia and Ukraine has given the debate a sense of urgency, and the quest...
Michael Clapham | 441 c513-4 (Link to this contribution) Market pressures certainly do operate in that way. As my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, ...
John Hemming | 441 c513 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that, as the production figures show, although it is feasible to impo...
Michael Clapham | 441 c512-3 (Link to this contribution) I shall begin where the Secretary of State began. He pointed out that electricity generation in this...
Speaker | 441 c512 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next speaker, I remind the House that the winding-up speeches will probably...
Michael Jack | 441 c511-2 (Link to this contribution) No, I have given way once, and I wish to conclude my remarks. The advanced-passive reactor, the AP1...
Frank Dobson | 441 c511 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Michael Jack | 441 c511 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that we are already buying nuclear energy from France through the interconnector, so the i...
John Hemming | 441 c511 (Link to this contribution) : Are the raw materials for nuclear energy imported, or are they mined locally?
Michael Jack | 441 c510-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Barnsley, Central (Mr. Illsley), in advocating coal, should not regard nuclear p...
Eric Illsley | 441 c509-10 (Link to this contribution) Not with only eight minutes to make my speech; I am sorry. Who will pay for the nuclear power and f...
Michael Jack | 441 c509 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Malcolm Wicks | 441 c525 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has misunderstood the position. In the consultation document we say that unless thing...
Lord Vaizey of Didcot | 441 c524 (Link to this contribution) One of the points that Labour Members have refused to hear by refusing to accept any interventions i...
Richard Ottaway | 441 c524 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that strong point. Both India and China are to use a mix ...
Andrew Smith | 441 c529 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Charles Hendry | 441 c529 (Link to this contribution) If that was the last line, it is a shame that we did not hear the rest. I agree that we need to ensu...
Mike Weir | 441 c526-8 (Link to this contribution) I am surprised at the last comments from the hon. Member for Glasgow, North-West (John Robertson). I...
John Robertson | 441 c525-6 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for that correction. I am pleased that that is the case, but it is not what I t...
Charles Walker | 441 c529 (Link to this contribution) To make use of the last line of my speech, does my hon. Friend agree that we need a diverse energy s...
Charles Hendry | 441 c528-9 (Link to this contribution) We have had an excellent debate, but it is a tragedy that we had far too little time for it. It is s...
Charles Hendry | 441 c530 (Link to this contribution) I will in a moment. My other concern is the extent of the Government’s complacency on these matters...
Peter Bone | 441 c530 (Link to this contribution) Ofgem has told the Trade and Industry Committee that the forward electricity price in Europe is €50 ...
Charles Hendry | 441 c530-1 (Link to this contribution) There is clearly a tremendous difference between energy prices in this country and elsewhere in Euro...
Charles Hendry | 441 c529-30 (Link to this contribution) Although the right hon. Gentleman has been present throughout our proceedings, I shall not give way ...
Speaker | 441 c486 (Link to this contribution) A notice about the relevant documents should have appeared in the Order Paper. Copies of all three d...
Alan Johnson | 441 c486 (Link to this contribution) The debate supplements the first report to Parliament on United Kingdom security of gas and electric...
Bernard Jenkin | 441 c486-7 (Link to this contribution) We keep hearing the mantra that gas production in the North sea has declined more quickly than predi...
Alan Johnson | 441 c487 (Link to this contribution) Strangely enough, that is a question that I have asked myself, because I have been trotting out that...
Daniel Kawczynski | 441 c487 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State mentioned renewable energy. I believe that the renewable energy target set fo...
Alan Johnson | 441 c487 (Link to this contribution) Our target is 10 per cent. by 2010. We have an aspiration to move to 15 per cent. by 2015, and to 20...
Mike Weir | 441 c487 (Link to this contribution) May I take the Secretary of State back to the question of the gas supply? Is he aware of the researc...
Alan Duncan | 441 c494-5 (Link to this contribution) I am very flattered. I apologise, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to you and the House for not being able to be ...
Robert Smith | 441 c507 (Link to this contribution) The Liberal Democrats are not opposed to research, but we are opposed to the development of a new ge...
Alan Johnson | 441 c488 (Link to this contribution) If the oil price were to collapse, we would then face a very different set of problems from those th...
Dennis Skinner | 441 c534 (Link to this contribution) We need diversification not only abroad but here in Britain. I shall be next door to Haworth collier...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 441 c514-5 (Link to this contribution) I shall not say anything this afternoon very different from what I have said on previous occasions o...
John Robertson | 441 c524-5 (Link to this contribution) We have been having an interesting debate. We have a pro-nuclear element on the Conservative Benches...
Subjects
Companies Conservation Coal Climate change Energy Electricity generation Energy supply Distribution Fuel poverty Imports Oil Natural gas Nuclear power Prices Storage Sustainable development Tax allowances Renewable energy Reviews Reserves
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