Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Great British Energy

Tuesday 12 November 2024 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Great British Energy has appointed a start-up chair and announced its headquarters location.
  • Labour acknowledges that the Conservative government did not invest sufficiently in clean energy.
  • The Labour Government voted against enshrining a 300 electricity bill reduction in law, according to the Conservatives.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Douglas McAllister Lab West Dunbartonshire
Scotland Energy Business & Trade
Context

The question arises from concerns about the establishment of Great British Energy, a public energy company.

Question

What steps he is taking to establish Great British Energy?

Answer from Michael Shanks

We are moving at pace to set up Great British Energy. So far we have appointed the start-up chair, Jürgen Maier, we have announced that the headquarters will be in Aberdeen and we have progressed the Bill through the House of Commons. This builds on the first partnership announced for Great British Energy, with the Crown Estate, and on a recent new deal to collaborate with Scottish public bodies.

Answered
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Q2 Douglas McAllister Lab West Dunbartonshire
Scotland Energy
Context

The question stems from criticism of the Conservatives for opposing Great British Energy, despite their failure to invest in clean energy.

Question

Every family and every business in my constituency paid the price of 14 years of Conservative failure with rocketing energy bills because the last Government failed to invest in clean energy. The Opposition continue to oppose Great British Energy. Does the Minister recognise the absurdity of their argument that they are quite happy with foreign public ownership as long as it is not UK citizens who own our energy?

Answer from Michael Shanks

My hon. Friend makes a good point. It is important to remember that, despite what the Conservatives might have us believe, Great British Energy is overwhelmingly popular with the British people. That includes the people in Scotland, because of course it was not just the Conservative party who did not vote for Great British Energy; surprisingly, the Scottish National party also failed to vote for a publicly owned champion in our energy space.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not directly address the absurdity of the Conservatives' argument but highlighted that the policy is popular and contrasted it with the opposition's stance.

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Q3 Neil O'Brien Con Harborough, Oadby and Wigston
Economy Energy
Context

The question is about the impact of Great British Energy policies on electricity prices based on reports from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and NESO.

Question

Before the election, Labour said that Great British Energy would cut electricity bills by £300. After the election, the Labour Government voted against writing that into law and instead took away people's winter fuel payments and made their bills more expensive. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has now said that their policies are fundamentally raising prices for consumers to the tune of £120 per household, and we know from the NESO report that this will get worse.

Answer from Michael Shanks

Question after question from the Conservatives shows that they do not recognise the part they played for 14 years in why we are paying higher bills than ever before. We are the only party with an ambitious plan to get us off the volatile fossil fuel markets.

Not addressed: The Minister did not provide any assessment of the impact on electricity bills or industrial costs as requested but instead criticized the Conservatives for past failures.

How: Criticised Opposition

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