New Nuclear Power

Clearly not, because in the case of onshore wind, for example, there are many competitive develop...

rose—

rose—

I first give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith).

I hate to jump in front of the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, but I am pleased to be...

The hon. Gentleman is exactly right. In fact, the energy chief executive of Electricité de France...

I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for bringing this debate to the House this afternoon. Le...

The signatories to the motion have included the Public Accounts Committee in it, but the hon. Lad...

rose—

I am sorry but I cannot give way because of the time limit.

Given wider security and intern...

I am sorry to intervene on the hon. Gentleman, and I congratulate him on raising very important i...

The difficulty is that this one may be the main contract for nuclear power, so the suggestion fro...

rose—

Order. I remind Members that the following debate is heavily subscribed, so I am going to reduce ...

I welcome the Backbench Business Committee’s decision to select this important subject for debate...

The explanation that Centrica gave was not that there was insufficient public support—that was ex...

The hon. Gentleman mentions contracts for difference and he also did so in his speech. That is my...

I agree with just about everything the hon. Gentleman has said and would make the point that Hart...

Let me make two points in response. The hon. Member for Cheltenham said that in many respects thi...

As someone who has witnessed first hand the long-lasting devastation of a nuclear accident at Che...

The logic of the hon. Gentleman’s argument means that, if we leave it entirely to the free market...

The hon. Gentleman is entirely wrong, and I shall come on to the reasons for that later. Many alt...

I, too, am a free marketer in general. In this case, however, if we leave it to the market alone,...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. If I may, I will ask him to listen to my concluding ...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I am sorry. I cannot give way because I am allowed only two lots of injury time.

Other fact...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I will try to give way before the end, if I can.

A good indicator of commercial viability i...

I agree with every word said by the hon. Members for Hove (Mike Weatherley) and for Cheltenham (M...

My hon. Friend and I will never agree on nuclear power, but to set the record straight, there are...

My hon. Friend, like my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright), has a point of view. T...

Let me put it on record that I do not have a nuclear power station in my area. Is it not the logi...

That is a very limited view of the history of the matter, which I will come to. As recently as 20...

I agree with much of what the hon. Gentleman says, but I must correct him on one thing. He said t...

I am delighted to be reminded of that. However, I could spend the rest of my speech quoting what ...

Obviously I cannot speak on behalf of the Secretary of State, but I remind the hon. Gentleman tha...

I have some hope that the Liberal Democrat party will return to the paths of virtue.

A few ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I cannot do so any more because I have run out of injury time.

My constituency, like that o...

It is expensive.

My hon. Friend says that it is expensive, but it is very cheap. He should take a trip to La Rance...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I cannot give way any more.

The waste problem is continuing at a cost of £1.5 billion a yea...

Order. I call David Mowat.

12.56 pm

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am pleased to have the chance to speak in this debate, and I cong...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Does he agree that the latest design approved by the Off...

My honest answer is that I do not know if they are more efficient. I assume that they are—why wou...

The hon. Gentleman is making a sensible and powerful argument. On waste, the House needs to recog...

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that the issue of legacy waste is not relevant to this discussion...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I have given way twice, so let me see how I get on and I will try to come back to the hon. Gentle...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I am afraid that I cannot.

I am not very impressed by the interconnector with Ireland or wi...

rose—

I will not give way. The hon. Lady might have wanted to talk about offshore wind. That could be p...

Order. I call Joan Walley.

1.7 pm

I apologise to the Secretary of State that I will not be here for his winding-up speech. In the s...

Will the hon. Lady also accept that there is a priority and that the Government should focus, as ...

Energy security is top of my list as well, but I would not want the Government—not just now but i...

Given recent threats from EDF Energy over the past couple of days, it seems to me that we are alr...

I agree with the hon. Gentleman, and given what has happened this week with Centrica, and the unc...

Our future energy needs and how we meet them are critical to this nation. I congratulate my hon. ...

On that point, is my hon. Friend saying that subsidies are acceptable for nuclear power but unacc...

No, I think that wind has an important part to play in the mix, but I am unequivocal when I say t...

I congratulate my hon. Friends the Members for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood) and for Hove (Mike Wea...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

Not yet. I will go a bit further. As my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South (David Mowat)...

On energy security, after Fukushima, every single one of the 52 reactors in Japan closed down and...

I believe that the public are reassured by the work of the Office for Nuclear Regulation, and Dr ...

rose—

I will not give way further on that matter. It would not surprise me if Germany is burning more c...

Does the hon. Lady remember any other occasion on which the House was asked to agree to the Gover...

That figure has been mentioned several times, but I do not recognise it. My expectation is that t...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I will make more progress, but I will give way to the hon. Gentleman if I have time later.

...

Does the hon. Lady agree that, if we do not move ahead now, we will lose a lot of those skills, o...

The skills are transferable, even if people need specialist additions. The general investment in ...

I am very glad to have a few minutes to make a contribution to the debate. I apologise to you, Mr...

Does the right hon. Gentleman question his party’s stance on wind power? The Liberal Democrats su...

I do not accept that. I was the Liberal Democrat shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate...

I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman has been to Finland, but it has a waste solution t...

I have been to Finland, though not to look at the waste issue. When I was party spokesperson, I w...

Can we anticipate another principled stand by the Liberal Democrats, like the one they took on bo...

The hon. Gentleman is being mischievous. He and I are on the same side in this argument, so he sh...

We have established that this technology is more expensive than coal, but it is not more expensiv...

That is exactly the debate we are engaged in. What are subsidies and what are equal subsidies? Wh...

I congratulate hon. Members on securing this debate. Even if we hold different views, it is impor...

Does my right hon. Friend recall that Dr Weightman was expressly forbidden from considering the c...

I was talking about safety, but I will come to costs later. It was absolutely right for the Gover...

I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for the opportunity to set out the coalition Go...

rose—

I give way to the hon. Lady.

Order. As a matter of courtesy, after walking into the Chamber Members usually sit for a little b...

It is very kind of the Secretary of State to give way. The Under-Secretary of State for Health, t...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady and am glad that her train arrived. I will deal with the issue of ...

The Secretary of State is right to say that we need to deal with the legacy waste now. In fact, w...

The hon. Gentleman is right to say that past Governments failed to tackle this legacy. The previo...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

No, I want to make some progress.

On new build, is it is for energy companies themselves to...

In secret, without the House knowing.

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, who is heckling from a sedentary position, because he is v...

I have a simple question. Is the Secretary of State able to provide an assurance that there will ...

I am trying to explain our policy on no subsidy, but the hon. Gentleman interrupted me. If he wil...

Will the Secretary of State clarify a point for me? I understand that, in chapter 5 of the Energy...

I might have to write to my hon. Friend about the note on schedule 3 to the Bill. I would say to ...

This has been a tremendous debate and we have aired some important issues about the phenomenal su...