Here are the climate-related sections of speeches by MPs during the Commons debate UK Nuclear Energy Programme.
Full text: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2013-10-21/debates/1310215000002/UKNuclearEnergyProgramme
15:33 Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)
Hinkley Point C would supply a stable source of low-carbon, climate-friendly power to nearly 6 million homes—nearly twice the number of homes in London—and would supply 7% of the United Kingdom’s electricity by 2025. It would reduce emissions by the equivalent of about 5% of the UK’s annual carbon dioxide emissions from energy supply compared with unabated gas-fired generation. It would increase energy security and resilience from a safe, reliable, home-grown source of electricity, reducing electricity bills by about 10% compared with a non-nuclear future. With clean-up costs included from the outset, we would be avoiding the mistakes of the past. This is good news for jobs, good news for the economy, good news for bill-payers, good news for energy security, and good news for the environment.
We have a huge challenge ahead of us. With many old and dirty power stations closing down over the next decade, the capital investment required to replace that electricity generating capacity is around £110 billion between now and 2020, the largest infrastructure programme in Government. This agreement is a vote of confidence in the measures this Government are putting in place to attract investment into the system, to make the market work, and to ensure we keep the lights on. We need to decarbonise our electricity sector to meet our emissions targets and our responsibilities to the next generation, and we need a revolution in home-grown energy generation to protect bill-payers from price rises caused by volatile world gas markets.
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15:57 Mr Peter Hain (Neath) (Lab)
Even accepting the case for Hinkley, why is the Secretary of State not giving in-principle support to the Severn barrage, which would deliver clean green energy at half the price, at a similar strike price, over three to four times the lifespan of Hinkley and with three times the number of jobs? I just do not understand it.
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Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)
I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. I will make two points in response to his comments. First, 7% of Britain’s electricity needs will be secured when the two reactors are working at capacity, which is expected in 2025. That is a huge bonus for our long-term plans for energy security in this country, and something that was not happening before the coalition Government came to power. Secondly, on his point about the Liberal Democrats, our party changed its policy at our recent conference in Glasgow, and I will explain to the House why we did that. The reasons are similar to those that led me to change my view. Climate change is a huge challenge for our country and for the world. Some people believe that we can combat it simply by using renewables and energy efficiency, but I do not believe that we can. I believe that it is such a serious threat to our world that all forms of low-carbon electricity need to be used. I urge environmentalists in the House to reflect on that.
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Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)
The strike price of £89 per megawatt-hour is twice the current market rate and more than twice what the Department of Energy and Climate Change was confidently predicting just five years ago. If that were inflation proofed over the whole 35-year period, as the Secretary of State has said, will that not end up costing taxpayers more than £200 per megawatt-hour by the end of the period? What proportion of the loan guarantee for the debt to build two £14 billion reactors is also going to be backstopped by the British taxpayer? Will not the project end up as a colossal financial disaster for the UK taxpayer?
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Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)
Can my right hon. Friend confirm that the reason we are dependent on foreign companies to build these nuclear power plants is that the last Labour Government sold off Westinghouse to the Japanese and then sold British Energy to the French when the current Leader of the Opposition was Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change?
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16:18 Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s remarks, but I say to him gently that I hope everyone on the Conservative Benches will also understand why I have changed my mind: it is because of the threat of climate change. I hope that all Conservative Members will look at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report—its fifth annual assessment—and accept the scientific consensus of 269 experts from 39 countries. The evidence that climate change is happening and that man is responsible for it is overwhelming and we need to take action on climate change. If I am prepared to change my views on nuclear, I hope that some on the Conservative Benches are prepared to accept that climate change is something we have to face up to.
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16:21 Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful for my right hon. Friend’s comments. Britain is working with a significant number of like-minded member states that wish to develop their nuclear programmes. I believe that nuclear needs to be seen as a low-carbon technology in the European debate, because it will be critical to meeting our climate change objectives in the UK, Europe and the world. I recommend to him and to other right hon. and hon. Members the book by the chief scientist in my Department, “Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air”, which is this House would benefit from.
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16:28 Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)
My hon. Friend is right to say that the market reforms that the coalition Government have championed are already bearing fruit. He points to the fact that renewable energy has doubled under this Government, and that we are seeing a push forward on carbon capture and storage and now nuclear. I must say, however, that he played an important role in all of that.
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16:33 Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)
One odd thing about the debate is that a Hong Kong Chinese company owns UK Power Networks, which owns three of our district network operating companies, including London. So the electricity supplies to London—the cables and the networks—are owned by a Chinese company. I have not heard questions on that at Department of Energy and Climate Change oral questions. Perhaps I will in future, but the evidence—the lights have stayed on—suggests that people should not worry.
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16:42 Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Gentleman was doing so well. I have to tell him that there are zealots on all sides of this argument, as I have found, which is why I take, I think, a more balanced, pragmatic approach in favour of a mixed, diversified electricity supply focused on low carbon. I am a zealot not about nuclear, onshore or any particular renewable technology; I am a zealot about climate change. That is what every Member needs to be a zealot about. Climate change is one of the big challenges for this political generation, and we have to face up to it, so I plead guilty to being a zealot about tackling climate change.
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16:44 Ben Gummer (Ipswich) (Con)
I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Michael Fallon) on the excellent, careful deal that they have struck with EDF. The Secretary of State will know that many people in Suffolk are keen to see a similar deal for Sizewell, which is in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey). What progress has his Department made towards making that a reality?
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16:46 Graham Stringer (Labour)
The Secretary of State uses his fight against climate change and the need to reduce emissions to justify charging twice the market rate for energy, but this country has one of the largest carbon footprints in the world and it is increasing because of emissions input. Why does he not talk about that failure of his policy? Will he tell us what he is going to do about it?
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16:47 Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)
I think the hon. Gentleman is talking about the fact that a lot of the products we import come from countries with high carbon intensity production processes. It might be a little harsh to describe this as a failure of my policy, but I know that the Select Committee and the Committee on Climate Change are interested in looking at that issue, and they should do so. In fact, this simply shows that we need a global treaty on climate change. One country cannot tackle it alone. We live in an interdependent world that has an interdependent economy and an interdependent climate. That is the answer for the hon. Gentleman: he needs to get behind the push for a global treaty on climate change.
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