“Specious”, said His Majesty’s Opposition spokesperson about the arguments against this amendment, to which I would add, having listened to the Minister’s defence of the Government’s position on community energy, that it was also one of
the more tendentious arguments that we have heard in this Chamber. I am not convinced that the Minister is absolutely fully signed up to that which he has been put out today to defend. I think he knows the importance of community generation and he is not content with the feet dragging that his Government are forcing him to come here to defend. This is another extremely negative decision by a Government who show no let-up in their disdain for community ambition for disaggregated generation infrastructure, or, in fact, for the climate. If we contrast that ambition with the Tories’ now messianic devotion to the cult of nuclear, we see that next year everyone across these islands will be well shot of them, and nowhere more so will that be clear than in the energy space.
Lords amendment 274B is a perfectly sensible ambition. It is a pragmatic amendment by their lordships. It is balanced and deliverable, works with the grain of local ambition, and is destined to unlock significant value in the green transition. It would unlock local enterprise and it would unlock value-add in the real economy and promote community wellbeing. There is nothing not to recommend about this ambition; it is quite clear that it has positives for the people and for our communities. It is no wonder, then, that this Tory Government will reject it out of hand. They have no interest in empowering the people or powering the green revolution. They would rather throw billions on to our energy bills to pay for nuclear, while they proscribed onshore wind in England up until September this year, leaving Scotland to do all the heavy lifting as usual.
Why will these Tories not follow the SNP Scottish Government’s lead in this priority? The Scottish Government’s community and renewable energy scheme promotes community energy ownership across Scotland. CARES continues to help communities engage, participate in and benefit from the transition to net zero. Since 2010, CARES has offered advice and support to more than 900 organisations and assisted in the delivery of 600 community and locally owned renewable projects throughout Scotland, offering funding in the process of £58 million. Just to clarify, that is just in Scotland, which rather puts in the shade the £10 million on offer from the English Government to English community generation—whenever that happens. CARES accelerates progress towards the Scottish Government’s target of 2 GW of renewable energy to be locally or community owned by 2030. The scheme assists in the delivery of both the Scottish Government’s energy strategy and heat in buildings strategy through the provision of loan finance, grant funding and specialist advice.
In Scotland, we see a Government of the people working with the people for their shared ambitions, but here in Westminster we see only the veneer of an Administration masking the infighting, bitter division and self-interest of that Tory party.
The Scottish Government’s community good practice principles, which have been widely adopted across the renewables industry, promote the provision of community benefits at a national level. They promote the equivalent of £5,000 per installed megawatt per annum, index-linked for the life of the project. Over £22.8 million has been paid out in community benefits to Scottish communities in the 12 months since August 2021. England has a very
similar scheme but—and it is a big Tory-shaped but—as these funds are in the greater part principally born of onshore wind development, and the Tories introduced a de facto ban on onshore wind in 2015, English communities have lost out on millions and millions of pounds in community funding thanks to this dysfunctional UK/English Government.
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The Government’s contorted priorities directly increase reliance on insecure and costly gas generation, and they are continuing to persist with the grotesque parody that they are on the side of working people by rowing back further on measures that would save households money and protect our planet by backtracking on home heating, insulation and electric vehicle targets. The Tories are busy damaging communities, damaging investor confidence and damaging the planet.
In the midst of an energy price crisis, when low-cost, clean, home-produced energy has never been more important, there is enormous potential across these islands for growth in small-scale renewable energy generation—especially by community groups that can provide cheaper, greener power and then reinvest the profits locally. Community energy schemes currently generate a mere 0.5% of the UK’s electricity—it is depressing. This could grow twentyfold in 10 years, according to studies by the Environmental Audit Committee, but only if we get action from a Westminster Government. We must also bear in mind how much of that 0.5% of community generation is thanks to the foresight and financial investment of the Scottish Government—investment that the Scottish Government must find from elsewhere in their budget, because if the English Government do not spend it, it is not consequentialised.
That energy could power 2.2 million homes and save 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, while creating over 30,000 jobs. As Members on the Government’s own Benches are pointing out, these things are not an impediment to economic growth, but a driver of economic growth. Furthermore, they would reduce dependence on energy imports, all the while reducing reliance on foreign energy.
A functioning UK Government would embrace this remarkable potential, accept the Lords amendment and seek to enable rather than disable local supply. The regulatory barriers that prevent community energy schemes from selling power to local customers are incongruous with both our climate emergency and the scale of current energy prices. The new £10 million community energy fund is nothing but a paltry smokescreen, which will not scratch the surface and is a veil simply for this Tory Government’s inaction and hostility to the ambition of the people and their drive for net zero. The Government cannot hold a candle to the Scottish Government’s record in this area, but it is high time they at least tried to do so.