Shanks reiterated the seriousness of the matter and noted the independent review process initiated based on information provided by Coutinho. He emphasised that NESO's investigation will include interviews with power system managers and other control room personnel from the period in question, ensuring thoroughness and independence. Shanks argued against the notion of imminent blackouts due to margin notices being a standard operational tool. He highlighted the resilience of the energy grid during recent periods and urged for responsible rhetoric while awaiting the full investigation's outcome.

The minister agrees with Bill Esterson's comments and emphasises that allegations should be taken seriously, but they must not lead to scaremongering about potential blackouts. The minister pays tribute to the skilled staff in NESO’s control room who maintain the electricity demand-supply balance without any disruption.

The terms of reference for the independent inquiry are available on Ofgem’s website. The inquiry will conduct interviews with control room staff who were present during incidents. While grid stability is foundational to energy security, the minister confirms that there was no blackout risk and NESO maintains sufficient generation capacity.

NESO and the minister have provided assurances that electricity supplies were maintained throughout the June heatwave without any customer disconnections or breaches of statutory frequency limits, indicating grid resilience.

The minister acknowledges the importance of Exercise Mighty Oak in understanding cascading impacts of a national power outage and confirms ongoing work to ensure grid resilience, with most actions completed as per previous government initiatives.

The minister agrees with Polly Billington on the need for responsible reporting. He confirms that tight margins during extreme weather were within normal limits, with sufficient generation to meet demand without disconnections.

Denies complacency, refutes irresponsible language about blackouts. Grid met demand every day under pressure from extreme weather event, no blackouts occurred. Investigation will learn lessons but does not detract from grid’s robustness.

Previous Government did not do enough investment for future resilience; current government is driving forward biggest upgrade in the grid in generations.

Engages with NESO’s chair but also Government's independent director; Ofgem regulates NESO. Inquiry will establish truth about version control, sharing of documents, etc.

Committing work with DNOs, transmission owners to improve local issues. Will take forward work to engage more regularly on personal and household resilience.

Speaks at cross purposes. Cannot guarantee no supply disruption as faults happen leading to temporary loss of supply; willing to work with MP on local recurring issues.

Congratulates on question about nuclear. Nuclear does play a vital role in providing stable baseload energy and supporting grid stability.

Mr Shanks defended his position, stating that investing in the grid is necessary to ensure resilience and acknowledged the issue with constraint payments but emphasised that this was due to past lack of strategic planning by previous governments.

Mr Shanks responded affirmatively, confirming investment plans and reforms aimed at connecting more renewables, economic projects, and improving efficiency through queue reform.

Mr Shanks stated that the legal firm conducting the review, Eversheds Sutherland, is independent and assured that findings will be reported to an independent director on the board and shared with Ofgem.

Mr Shanks acknowledged legal protections for whistleblowers and committed to protecting their ability to speak freely without NESO staff present. He also stated that setting up an office was not within his portfolio but would pass on the suggestion.

Mr Shanks responded that other tools can be deployed to meet the need for inertia and referenced weather-related issues affecting gas power stations, dismissing the suggestion of relying solely on gas.

Mr Shanks defended his earlier comments, stating that he did not dismiss the issue but committed to following up with distribution owners. He also clarified that he had not characterised whistleblowers as enemies or created a hostile environment.

First of all, investment is necessary to bring down the costs in the long term. We are currently paying to constrain the renewables that are generating often much more electricity day after day than we are able to get to homes and businesses. Instead of doing that—paying to both turn off wind and turn up gas somewhere else in England to fill the gap—we should be building a transmission system that brings that clean power to houses and businesses across the country. That requires an initial investment, but that investment is repaid, long into the future, from the virtually free fuel that comes from solar and wind. Many, many projects were built under the previous Government and I am very happy to champion those projects, but the problem is that they did not connect them.

The hon. Gentleman asks a number of important questions about the role of data centres in the future of the country. First, there is a real opportunity if we get this right, but I take his challenge about properly planning where they should go. Data centres are an opportunity to soak up some of what we are currently constraining, which will actually bring down bills. If we can deploy them in the right places, we get a greater customer base for electricity, rather than consumers paying to switch off. Secondly, AI is a huge opportunity for us as a country and it will become increasingly important to have sovereign capability here in the UK. In the energy space, there is a real opportunity to utilise AI to run the system in an even more efficient way. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we have to get this absolutely right so that local communities get the benefits and not any downsides. We are working through a data centre strategy with my colleagues in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. On the energy side, we are working to ensure that we are getting the best possible locations for the benefit of the energy system and consumers.

I am disappointed, Madam Deputy Speaker. I heard that the hon. Gentleman rapped some of his speech in a Westminster Hall debate today, so I am disappointed that he did not do a rap in his question. He is a man of many talents, but he has disappointed me in this final week before recess! First of all, he knows that my answer—I hope he never takes it to mean that I am not interested—on the grid in Northern Ireland is always that it is a transferred power, because there is an all-Ireland grid. However, he is right about the connections with NESO. Our interconnectors with Ireland and Northern Ireland are an important part of balancing across the system. When there were storms in Northern Ireland recently and generation was switched off, those interconnectors were vital. The partnership that we have and the partnership between the two system operators are really important, so I will take his points away.