Andrew Pakes is the Labour MP for Peterborough.
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Almost since Flag Fen’s discovery, the management strategy has been to protect these remarkable remains by leaving them buried in the ground that has protected them for nearly 3,500 years. However, even then we knew that the land would not protect the archaeology forever, but that one day the precious vanished world would succumb to climate change and fen drainage, leaving nothing but dust. That goes to the heart of one of the challenges now: new evidence suggests that we have reached the point where, without intervention, we will move from protection to abandonment. We need a new approach to capture the value of places such as Flag Fen, and retain their special place in our community for the benefit of generations to come—a new mission, we might say, to create access on all levels through new interpretations and historical knowledge.
Full debate: Bronze-age Heritage: Cambridgeshire
Our gas grid, with our world-leading national transmission system as the backbone, will play a leading role in the transformation of our energy network. As the Climate Change Committee recently said, many industries—such as those that I have just named—simply cannot fully electrify; they will always need a form of gas to keep their operations running. The discussion on the future of the gas grid is not about whether it will continue to exist, but about what will flow through it—natural gas, as we see today, or clean, home-grown forms of gas, such as hydrogen, in the future.
This is not just wishful thinking or some hypothecated plan for 10 or 20 years’ time. It is happening right now in places such as my constituency. Peterborough is fast becoming the King’s Cross of hydrogen—a hub where innovation, infrastructure and ambition meet. At the Peterborough gas compressor station, the crossroads of our national transmission system, National Gas, as my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase said, has already announced £350 million to install new, state-of-the-art hydrogen-blend-ready turbines—an investment that initially will create 100 jobs and apprentices in Peterborough, with the potential to grow more across the UK. That investment not only will help locally to create jobs, boost the economy and grow our skillset, but will be vital in delivering the Government’s green growth mission nationally. Today that compressor station moves natural gas across the country to fuel heavy industry and power stations, but it is now able to move hydrogen instead, starting with a blend, and eventually moving to 100% hydrogen if we get there and decarbonising the country while protecting jobs in industry in all parts of the United Kingdom. That is the role Peterborough is playing in the green transition, and it is the future of the gas grid. Such projects show that hydrogen has a critical role to play in the future of British energy. I am proud that my constituency is playing a key role in supporting this Government’s ambitions and that transition.
However, to really kick-start that revolution there are some quick, easy actions that the Government can take. I have a few questions, which I hope the Minister will be able to expand upon in his remarks. Can the Minister confirm when we might see the release of the consultation on hydrogen blending into the gas transmission system, which was promised by the last Government and, we are told, may be coming shortly? That would help kick-start the hydrogen economy and unleash a wave of investment in Britain. What are the next steps in the Government’s plans for a core hydrogen network, as recommended by the Climate Change Committee and others, and how will that build on the exciting and excellent steps we have seen in recent days with Cadent and others through the Government’s announcements around hydrogen? Finally, what assessment can the Minister give us of the skills need and skill potential in communities such as mine that are crying out for good, decent, unionised opportunities that the gas transition could provide, not just in Peterborough but throughout the UK?
It has been a pleasure to speak with passion about my constituency again this morning, and also with passion about this Government’s drive to deliver us the green transition. Gas networks have helped build our industrial past and our current prosperity. Our gas networks of the future have the ability to power our transition and movement to net zero, while bringing communities with us.
Full debate: Future of the Gas Grid
To close, I want to reflect briefly on the role that co-operative housing projects are playing in wider communities. I am proud and privileged to be a Labour and Co-operative MP, and to be part of the Co-operative party’s “Community Britain” campaign, which argues that work is already under way in so many of our communities to solve, in serious and innovative ways, the big challenges that our country faces. We see that in local community-owned energy projects, in which people come together not just to tackle climate change through clean energy, but to upskill local people. We see it in agriculture, in amazing initiatives such as the English Mustard Growers co-operative, which is keeping mustard alive in my constituency and across the east of England. We see it in local initiatives such as Men’s Sheds, which are fighting the loneliness epidemic, or community kitchens, which are bringing people from different cultures together.
Full debate: Co-operative Housing Tenure
9. What steps she is taking to support job creation in the renewable energy sector.
Full debate: Renewable Energy: Job Creation
“We will be investing in community-owned energy generation, reducing the pressures on the transmission grid while giving local people a stake in their transition to net zero.”
Full debate: Great British Energy Bill (Third sitting)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for being kind to me in the first intervention that I have ever taken in this House, but I will stick to my point: that we could achieve so much more in this country. We would be having a fundamentally different conversation about insulation efficiency and renewable energy if we had not gone through the last 14 years, in which budgets were cut. There are young people in my constituency of Peterborough who could have contributed, by moving from blue-collar to green-collar jobs, if we had had a further education system that was functioning and could train them—if we had a home insulation system that had a workforce that could get out and deliver.
Full debate: Great British Energy Bill (Third sitting)
One other thing I would mention is that Government have a role, and have increasingly played a more co-ordinated role, in driving directed R&D through the net zero panel. I think Government can be better at that, if they are more informed, and one of the things I think GB Energy will do is to give a stronger insight into the constraints and opportunities in the market, and therefore potentially inform Government’s ability to drive innovation in a smarter way.
Shaun Spiers: I obviously agree with all that. The really difficult thing about clean power by 2030 is the last 10% or 20%. It is clear that the market on its own, at the moment, will not provide that, and just adding renewables and grid will not provide it. What GB Energy provides is the potential to invest in things like pump hydropower, compressed air and new technologies that we are going to need. That is going to be essential to achieving the 2030 power decarbonisation.
Full debate: Great British Energy Bill (First sitting)
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, and I congratulate the trade unions, communities and campaigners that have campaigned for this for so long. His leadership stands in stark contrast with the asset-stripping of jobs, hopes and investment that we have seen in too many of our industrial heartlands. Does he agree that carbon capture is about not just net zero or boosting cluster areas, but boosting jobs, skills and futures in the supply chain in communities such as mine in Peterborough and across the country?
Full debate: Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage
I welcome the Secretary of State and his team to the Chamber. It is a privilege to make my first contribution in this House on such an ambitious plan. It is ambitious not just on net zero, the climate crisis and energy security, but on jobs and opportunities for young people in places such as mine. In my constituency, Peterborough college is already building a green technology centre to develop new green apprenticeships, and we have plans for a clean energy transition centre. Will the Secretary of State put on record his commitment to working with trade unions, communities, colleges and others, so that we can move from blue-collar to green-collar apprenticeships, and give young people an opportunity to succeed in life as we meet our climate and energy needs?
Full debate: Clean Energy Superpower Mission