UK Parliament / Open data

Energy Bill

Debate on bills on Monday, 7 December 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Ed Miliband. The answering member was Greg Clark.
Energy Bill. Second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Programme motion on proceedings in Committee, on Report, 3R and any other proceedings. Agreed to on question. Queen's recommendation signified. Money resolution. Agreed to on question. Ways and means resolution. Agreed to on question.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
502 c41-123 
Session
2009-10
Department
Department of Energy and Climate Change
Legislative stage
Second reading
Procedure
Programme motions
Money resolutions
Ways and means resolutions
Queen's recommendation
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Energy Bill. Explanatory Notes Bill 7-EN also published.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Bills
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 502 c94 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am not very happy about the word that the hon. Gentleman has just used. Perhaps he would li...
Robert Smith | 502 c120 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting proposition. Does it mean that those who are off the gas grid would get a gre...

Show all contributions (164)
Joan Ruddock | 502 c120 (Link to this contribution) I am not giving way on this point. It is clear that under our proposal, if the technology works, we ...
Joan Ruddock | 502 c121-2 (Link to this contribution) I cannot; I do not have time. The hon. Gentleman asked what we would do if this winter was as harsh...
Rob Marris | 502 c117 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Charles Hendry | 502 c113-7 (Link to this contribution) We have had a thoughtful, constructive, well-informed debate which, on rare occasions, related to th...
Martin Horwood | 502 c112 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for St. Albans (Anne Main). We do not always agree, but I...
Chris Ruane | 502 c112 (Link to this contribution) I share the hon. Gentleman's concern about Conservative policy on wind power. Does he agree that the...
Anne Main | 502 c111-2 (Link to this contribution) No, I have only a few minutes left. It has been a long debate and the Labour Benches were empty for ...
Anne Main | 502 c111 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I am not good on planning distances, but I am good on the planning distance for the...
David Leslie Taylor | 502 c111 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady referred to wind turbines. I believe that her party, were it elected, is likely to int...
Rob Marris | 502 c119 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend as surprised as I am that Conservative policy on the energy gap still seems to be ...
Joan Ruddock | 502 c119-20 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, but perhaps the most remarkable thing the hon. Member for Tunbri...
Anne Main | 502 c120 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has a long history of opposing nuclear power. What caused her to change her mind?
Joan Ruddock | 502 c120 (Link to this contribution) May I correct the hon. Lady? I have a long history of leading a campaign against nuclear weapons. T...
Joan Ruddock | 502 c118-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. One would have thought they would have done so, but it appears they have no...
David Leslie Taylor | 502 c118 (Link to this contribution) Is it not the case that the sum involved would be £6,500 times 20 million or so, so we are talking a...
Speaker | 502 c119 (Link to this contribution) Order. I apologise for interrupting the hon. Lady, but there is a constant chorus of chuntering from...
Joan Ruddock | 502 c117-8 (Link to this contribution) Combating climate change while maintaining secure and affordable energy supplies is one the greatest...
Jamie Reed | 502 c90-4 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the thoughtful and informed contribution of the hon. Member for Scarborou...
Speaker | 502 c90 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next speaker, I reassure hon. Members that the temperature in the Chamber i...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c89-90 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. In Vienna, there is an aesthetically as well as environmentally nice incine...
Andrew Pelling | 502 c89 (Link to this contribution) Is it not also important to try to gain the public's confidence about incineration? In south-west Lo...
Jamie Reed | 502 c94 (Link to this contribution) Which word in particular, Mr. Deputy Speaker? [Laughter.] ... I am afraid not, sir. ... Absolutely,...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c87-9 (Link to this contribution) The Minister nods. It would be one way of having micro-generation in every home in the country and u...
Mike Weir | 502 c101-6 (Link to this contribution) In this debate, we have had a canter around various parts of energy policy and climate change. It ha...
Nick Ainger | 502 c98-101 (Link to this contribution) I was interested to hear what the hon. Member for Clwyd, West (Mr. Jones) said about wind energy, in...
David Jones | 502 c109 (Link to this contribution) Before my hon. Friend leaves that point, will she enlighten the House as to what form of fossil fuel...
Anne Main | 502 c106-9 (Link to this contribution) One of the delightful aspects of speaking late in a debate is that one has heard so many wonderful s...
Bill Wiggin | 502 c110 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making an important point about the use of extra space. It is a tragedy that Germa...
Anne Main | 502 c109-10 (Link to this contribution) I probably have not explained that point well enough. Some 89 per cent. of the fuel will be from use...
Anne Main | 502 c110-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has knocked the nail on the head. I have heard much in the debate about wind farms an...
David Jones | 502 c94-8 (Link to this contribution) Before those somewhat churlish closing remarks, I was going to say what a great pleasure it was to f...
Martin Horwood | 502 c84 (Link to this contribution) I am broadly in sympathy with the hon. Gentleman's argument. It is long overdue that sustainability ...
Desmond Turner | 502 c82-3 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree, and I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention. I do not mind whether th...
Elliot Morley | 502 c82 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a very good argument. On market mechanisms, does he not agree that we might...
Desmond Turner | 502 c81-2 (Link to this contribution) It is about £70 billion, but I have slightly lost track; there is, however, a mounting pile of both ...
Mike Weir | 502 c81 (Link to this contribution) I was somewhat astonished by what the hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr. Goodwill) said abo...
Desmond Turner | 502 c81 (Link to this contribution) I think that one of the best ways to level the playing field is to have a realistic carbon price. We...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c81 (Link to this contribution) The playing field would, of course, be more level if the fossil-fuel generators had to take care of ...
Desmond Turner | 502 c80 (Link to this contribution) My apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker. As I was saying, this is a modest Bill. Only three issues, in m...
Speaker | 502 c80 (Link to this contribution) Order. There are too many sedentary exchanges.
Desmond Turner | 502 c80 (Link to this contribution) I shall not be as churlish as Opposition Members about the Bill. It is indeed a modest Bill, but I t...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c87 (Link to this contribution) I recall having just mentioned the technical problems that we have had with advanced gas-cooled reac...
Martin Horwood | 502 c85 (Link to this contribution) I have to accept that even a Liberal Democrat Government would have to find some way of managing tha...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c85 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman spoke to the Canadians, he would find that they are delivering nuclear power s...
Martin Horwood | 502 c86-7 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way again. He is being very generous, given...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c86 (Link to this contribution) The current generation of power stations has a credible plan to store waste in tanks until it cools ...
Martin Horwood | 502 c85 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Robert Goodwill | 502 c84-5 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown (Dr. Turner). We have become accu...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c85 (Link to this contribution) I thought that the hon. Gentleman might intervene.
Jamie Reed | 502 c60 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will know, because he is a keen student of such issues, that every major nuclear deci...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c60 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes the point. It is clear from the discussion in the Chamber, and from the policie...
John Robertson | 502 c60 (Link to this contribution) May I tell my hon. Friend not to take any history lessons from the Opposition, because the reinventi...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c60 (Link to this contribution) And the need of the people of this country is to keep the lights on. There is a potential energy dif...
Robert Smith | 502 c62 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman, in his intervention on the Secretary of State, specifically mentioned Macmillan,...
Speaker | 502 c61 (Link to this contribution) Order. I shall not ask the hon. Gentleman to withdraw those remarks, but perhaps he should choose hi...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c61-2 (Link to this contribution) I take your reproach, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Those words will be read down the coal pit in Welbeck in E...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c62-3 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that that is right. Smart meters with a visual display will clearly be interesting for som...
John Robertson | 502 c62 (Link to this contribution) Members in all parts of the House agree that smart meters are important, but, from what I have seen ...
Greg Clark | 502 c56-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is quite right. This should have been a Bill that enjoyed cross-party support for kee...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c57 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it, the hon. Gentleman would make available a loan of £6,500 for every house to be i...
Greg Clark | 502 c57 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman has asked me that question, because it allows me to explain o...
Ed Miliband | 502 c57 (Link to this contribution) The difference between me and the hon. Gentleman is that I recognise that this proposal will have a ...
Greg Clark | 502 c57-9 (Link to this contribution) I regret allowing the right hon. Gentleman to deliver such a poor response. The difference between u...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c59 (Link to this contribution) It is perhaps a coincidence that Second Reading takes place on the opening day of the climate change...
Greg Clark | 502 c59 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to have the opportunity to correct the hon. Gentleman. He will discover when he reads...
Tobias Ellwood | 502 c59-60 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is using tactics typical of those on his Front Bench. Instead of discussing the i...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c59 (Link to this contribution) What is the position then? Is nuclear power still a sort of last resort, ranking behind renewables? ...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c60 (Link to this contribution) We need new investment in generation capacity of £95 billion to £200 billion. Companies such as EDF ...
Alan Whitehead | 502 c73-4 (Link to this contribution) There is a distinction between ensuring that the definition of fuel poverty works in the way that I ...
Tobias Ellwood | 502 c74-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr. Whitehead), but I must begin b...
Simon Hughes | 502 c78-9 (Link to this contribution) I share the hon. Gentleman's regret about the fact that the Danish company Vesta is ending its activ...
Tobias Ellwood | 502 c79-80 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has made a fair point. As I think I said at the beginning of my speech, we need t...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c78 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will remember the project to develop clean coal technology at Grimesthorpe—but it...
Tobias Ellwood | 502 c78 (Link to this contribution) I repeat that that took place before I had the opportunity even to comment on it; I was still at sch...
Jamie Reed | 502 c77 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments about Cumbria, but on the subject of the nuclear industr...
Tobias Ellwood | 502 c77-8 (Link to this contribution) I am sticking to the facts. I am on the all-party nuclear energy group, and we have made a number of...
David Leslie Taylor | 502 c76 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that that point has substantial weight. The same sort of attitudes were present befor...
Tobias Ellwood | 502 c76-7 (Link to this contribution) I did not quite understand that intervention. The point is that today, we are where we are. If coun...
Simon Hughes | 502 c63-4 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to follow the hon. Member for Sherwood (Paddy Tipping), the acting Chairman of the Select...
Simon Hughes | 502 c65-9 (Link to this contribution) Let me make a bit more progress. I do not want to get bogged down in nuclear, which is not in the Bi...
Alan Whitehead | 502 c69-70 (Link to this contribution) Hon. Members have this afternoon said that the Bill is a modest one. It is indeed modest if one goes...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c70-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making one or two errors in interpreting our policy. The amount would be up to...
Alan Whitehead | 502 c71-2 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman intervened at the moment that he did and in the way that he d...
Tobias Ellwood | 502 c64 (Link to this contribution) As I do with much Lib Dem policy, I am having a few problems understanding this. If the hon. Gentlem...
Simon Hughes | 502 c64-5 (Link to this contribution) Those are entirely different arguments, as the hon. Gentleman well knows, having also been involved ...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c65 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talked about the security of fuel supply. As I recall, the main sources of nuclea...
Simon Hughes | 502 c65 (Link to this contribution) Some of the sources of supply that we need for nuclear are not in those countries but elsewhere, and...
Martin Horwood | 502 c72-3 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree with us that it is important to have consistent measures of fuel pover...
Ed Miliband | 502 c49 (Link to this contribution) I can read out the list if the hon. Gentleman—[Interruption.] He says that he is getting bored with ...
Ed Miliband | 502 c48-9 (Link to this contribution) That is something that many hon. Members have campaigned on. I would refer to my earlier answer. The...
Ed Miliband | 502 c47-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend asks about the debate that my hon. Friend the Minister of State is looking forward to...
Ed Miliband | 502 c47 (Link to this contribution) I have been generous in giving way, but I will give way to the Chair of the Select Committee.
Paddy Tipping | 502 c47 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the announcement about mandatory social tariffs. The Secretary of State said that the poor...
Ed Miliband | 502 c47 (Link to this contribution) As for many of these levies, the cost will be spread across other bill payers. Alongside that, we ne...
John Robertson | 502 c47 (Link to this contribution) How will that scheme be paid for? Will it be the taxpayer who ultimately pays or will the companies ...
Greg Clark | 502 c51 (Link to this contribution) We share a view about the need to speed up the planning process, and we think that the powers of the...
Nigel Griffiths | 502 c51 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not acknowledge that his Front-Bench colleague, the right hon. and learned M...
Greg Clark | 502 c50 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is correct. In that article, the Secretary of State said that we needed to work toget...
Julie Kirkbride | 502 c50 (Link to this contribution) As part of the evidence that my hon. Friend is putting forward to the Secretary of State, he might r...
Greg Clark | 502 c50 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is quite right. I am surprised that the Secretary of State has not taken that evidenc...
Jamie Reed | 502 c51 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman correctly identifies the need for clarity in the planning system, and the need to...
Ed Miliband | 502 c49 (Link to this contribution) We do support the European super grid, which we think is an important idea. We deserve answers from...
Martin Horwood | 502 c49 (Link to this contribution) On the subject of supporting European initiatives on energy, do the Government support the European ...
Greg Clark | 502 c49-50 (Link to this contribution) I have respect for the Secretary of State but I have to say that, with every speech that he makes, h...
Martin Horwood | 502 c52 (Link to this contribution) I am now thoroughly confused about the Conservative Front-Bench position on wind farms. Would the ho...
Greg Clark | 502 c52-4 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman well knows, private Members' Bills are not taken up by the Front Bench, but my...
Greg Clark | 502 c52 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, but then make some progress.
Greg Clark | 502 c51 (Link to this contribution) Once again, I had hoped that we would seek to achieve unity on these issues. [Interruption.] When my...
Greg Clark | 502 c52 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is speaking from his experience of the type of mind control that goes on in...
Ed Miliband | 502 c52 (Link to this contribution) I am astonished by the hon. Gentleman's response to my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, South (...
Greg Clark | 502 c52 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is the point that I am making: this Bill is a colossal miss...
Anne Main | 502 c51-2;502 c51 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend certainly does not need helping out; I think that the Minister does. The Bill is very...
Greg Clark | 502 c55 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman is asking me questions that presuppose that I will be in offi...
Malcolm Wicks | 502 c56 (Link to this contribution) I have listened very carefully to what the hon. Gentleman has said about the critical issue of CCS, ...
Greg Clark | 502 c56 (Link to this contribution) Of course we will support the levy, if it indeed turns out that the funds from the emissions trading...
Tobias Ellwood | 502 c56 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend noticed that the Bill is so slim and small that we have now lost interest in it a...
Jamie Reed | 502 c54 (Link to this contribution) In time. Can the hon. Gentleman confirm whether a future Conservative Government would support a Gov...
Greg Clark | 502 c54 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman. Perhaps he can provide an explanation for the missing billio...
David Anderson | 502 c55 (Link to this contribution) How much oversized should the pipelines be?
Greg Clark | 502 c54-5 (Link to this contribution) Of course we would support a subsidy for CCS; that is what we have been urging on the Government. Th...
David Anderson | 502 c55 (Link to this contribution) In Select Committee discussions it was said that, if this were a road, it would be either a B road o...
Greg Clark | 502 c55 (Link to this contribution) They should be adequate for the potential in their area. The Secretary of State has talked about hav...
Ed Miliband | 502 c43 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend speaks with great knowledge; indeed, much greater than mine. My chemistry is probably...
Brian Iddon | 502 c42 (Link to this contribution) Whether one believes that emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere produce climate change is ...
Ed Miliband | 502 c42 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is completely right. The precautionary principle was emphasised by the hon. Membe...
Bob Spink | 502 c42 (Link to this contribution) The Select Committee on Science and Technology was in absolutely no doubt about the validity and str...
Ed Miliband | 502 c43 (Link to this contribution) If we are talking about responsibility, I have to say that the alarmism that Opposition Front Benche...
Tobias Ellwood | 502 c43 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman gave his maiden speech just after I gave mine; I congratulate him on his ep...
Ed Miliband | 502 c43 (Link to this contribution) I think I can say yes to that intervention. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we need the toughes...
Simon Hughes | 502 c43 (Link to this contribution) The Energy Secretary is clear that he is persuaded by the science and that the scientific evidence i...
Mike Weir | 502 c43 (Link to this contribution) I very much agree with what the Secretary of State has said, but even if we get an agreement at Cope...
Ed Miliband | 502 c42 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has a long history of campaigning on this issue. I agree with her about needing to mak...
John Grogan | 502 c45 (Link to this contribution) As regards the consumer, whom the Secretary of State mentions, is there not now a compelling case fo...
Ed Miliband | 502 c44-5 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have said that there will be up to four carbon capture and st...
Robert Smith | 502 c45 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State mentioned in passing that CCS would be rolled out to gas-fired power stations...
Ed Miliband | 502 c45 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has thought deeply about this issue and we have discussed it. The Competition Commiss...
David Heathcoat-Amory | 502 c46 (Link to this contribution) As the Secretary of State is going to change Ofgem's powers and duties, has he considered doing so i...
Ed Miliband | 502 c45-6 (Link to this contribution) I think the urgency is to make coal carbon capture work—CCS for gas is farther down the road. We kno...
Julie Kirkbride | 502 c46 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is right to say that there are some important issues connected with being fai...
Ed Miliband | 502 c46 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman raises a local issue that is of some importance, but I confess that I do no...
Ed Miliband | 502 c43-4 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman that, as I said at the weekend, there is a mountain to climb and a h...
Michael Clapham | 502 c44 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that carbon capture and storage is important for the UK, because it ...
Robert Goodwill | 502 c41 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister share my concern that the media—some of the tabloid press, in particular—choose de...
Ed Miliband | 502 c41 (Link to this contribution) I actually think that, by and large, members of the press, including the tabloid press, have during ...
Ed Miliband | 502 c41 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. Today is an appropriate day to discuss the ...
Nigel Griffiths | 502 c41-2 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend accept that the validity of the arguments and the scientific case for the ...
Ed Miliband | 502 c42 (Link to this contribution) The truth is that we need as much of a consensus as we can get on these issues—from all parts of the...
Martin Horwood | 502 c112-3 (Link to this contribution) Not only despicable but wrong, as modern wind turbines, especially the larger ones that avoid provid...
Martin Horwood | 502 c85 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's contribution to the Liberal Democrat policy debate, but is he...
Desmond Turner | 502 c84 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting question, but I do not think it matters. The provision states quite clearly t...
Joan Ruddock | 502 c120-1 (Link to this contribution) What will be done is a matter for extensive consultation, when the hon. Gentleman will have an oppor...
Charles Hendry | 502 c117 (Link to this contribution) I will not, because I am keen to ensure that the Minister of State has plenty of time to respond. W...
Joan Ruddock | 502 c119 (Link to this contribution) I am so grateful, Mr. Speaker. The hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells spoke of the UK falling behind i...
Nick Ainger | 502 c48 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood (Paddy Tipping) referred to the sectors that are currently no...
Ed Miliband | 502 c46-7 (Link to this contribution) We do need more gas storage, and the hon. Lady, as a member of the Select Committee, has expertise i...
Justine Greening | 502 c42 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman talks about acting on the evidence of the science, but he knows that in the...
Paddy Tipping | 502 c62 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has a long track record of following the subject of fuel poverty, and he is exact...
Subjects
Conservation
Coal
Climate change
Biofuels
Carbon capture and storage
Energy
Electricity generation
Ofgem
Fuel poverty
Fossil fuels
Fuel oil
Oil
Planning
Natural gas
Nuclear power
Markets
Prices
Pipelines
Regulation
Storage
Utilities
Wind power
Science
Carbon emissions
Social tariffs
Legislation
Energy Bill 2009-10
Link
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