Michael Shanks MP: speeches

Speeches

• 15 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I do not know the specifics of the case that the hon. Lady raises—if she wants to send any details to me, I will certainly look at them. We clearly want to see and expect in every single case a partnership between developers delivering projects that we think are important, the planning system responsible for putting the processes in place and the communities who should have their local area protected and be able to access it. I am happy to follow up with her if she wants to raise specifics with me.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  That is not the position of the Government, because report after report and the evidence points to the fact that undergrounding cables is significantly more expensive than putting them above ground. Individual applications will clearly look at the individual circumstances and make a decision on that. We have said as a Government that communities that host network infrastructure should benefit through community benefits and direct money off bills, and that is what we will deliver.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I will repeat what I have said before: we are obviously hugely disappointed by the way that the owners have dealt with the company. I repeat the ask that I have made in the House a number of times, and in writing to the chief executive, that he should put his hands in his pockets and do the right thing by the workforce. We are doing everything we can as part of the insolvency process safely to manage the refinery, and to look at whether there are buyers interested in taking it on.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend always raises the huge potential of Cornwall in this House and in the energy space. He is right to talk about the potential for geothermal; we are hugely excited about the opportunities that it presents. I am very happy to meet him and others to discuss further how we can take it forward.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We are looking in the round at how we can deliver jobs and opportunities on the Grangemouth site. The National Wealth Fund made an unprecedented commitment of £200 million, and I have been meeting companies that are potentially interested in developing projects, to make sure we get them over the line. We have delivered on the training guarantee and delivered support beyond that provided by the Falkirk and Grangemouth growth deal. We are doing everything we can to support the workforce there, and we will continue to do so.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is assiduous in raising these sorts of questions with me. I am very happy to look at the possibilities. He is right to outline the potential of sites such as that, and we will look at it.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Renewable Energy Sector: Workers’ Rights · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to raise that point. Supporting workers in energy-intensive industries is essential as we transition our economy. The Government will provide over £1.2 billion per year in skills funding by 2028-29, supporting training in renewables, low-carbon construction and advanced engineering. We are also investing over £100 million over three years to develop engineering skills in England and launching new technical excellence colleges to make sure that training stays aligned with employers’ needs. We will also push forward on the clean energy workforce strategy this year.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Renewable Energy Sector: Workers’ Rights · Hansard source

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  The Government are committed to strengthening collective bargaining and trade union recognition. The Employment Rights Bill and the plan to make work pay will modernise rights and improve conditions. The Office for Clean Energy Jobs engages unions to ensure that renewable energy jobs support economic growth, the net zero transition and workers moving from carbon-intensive sectors.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Electricity Grid Capacity · Hansard source

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  That sounds like a fantastic opportunity. Our ambition is to see solar panels on as many rooftops across the country as possible. It is a win-win opportunity, as the hon. Gentleman rightly puts it. He and I have spoken about a number of these issues previously, and I am happy to discuss this one with him. If he could write to me with the specifics, we will certainly look at the matter. In the meantime, we are looking at reforming all those processes to make sure that we can get as much power as possible.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Electricity Grid Capacity · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for the question and for the work that he and the whole Committee have been doing on this matter. His report has been my bedtime reading every night this week as it is an important piece of work. He is right about two things. First, where processes are not as well aligned as they should be, we absolutely need to look at what we can do to make sure that they work much more coherently. The second point his report made, which we are also looking at, is how we bring together things such as the strategic spatial energy plan, the holistic network design and the land use framework to make sure that we have coherent plans across the country, so that we can plan properly our energy system.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Electricity Grid Capacity · Hansard source

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  We are working with Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator to accelerate network infrastructure through reforms to planning, supply chains and other areas, delivering the capacity needed to achieve clean power by 2030 and to drive economic growth.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Draft Electricity Capacity (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Electricity Capacity (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. These regulations were laid before the House on 3 June 2025, and they make technical improvements and changes to the capacity market scheme—the Government’s main tool for ensuring security of supply in Great Britain. We know that to achieve clean power by 2030, reform of the electricity market is critical. To paraphrase the clean power action plan, we must: “Reform the capacity market to provide clear and viable routes to decarbonisation for unabated gas, enable low-carbon flexible capacity…and incentivise investment into existing capacity.” Before I outline the provisions in these regulations, I will briefly provide some context. The capacity market was introduced in 2014, and it is designed to ensure that sufficient electricity capacity is available to meet future predicted demand, to maintain the security of our electricity supply. The capacity market is a well-established and technology-neutral scheme in which existing and new build electricity capacity receives revenue based on the capacity provided. Participants secure agreements through auctions, which require them to make capacity available at times of system stress. It is our main tool to ensure security of supply, and it provides the right incentives for all forms of capacity to be available when needed most. It covers generation, storage, consumer-led flexibility and interconnection capacity. Through capacity market auctions, which are held annually—one year and four years ahead of delivery—we secure the capacity needed to meet future peak demand under a range of scenarios, based on advice from the National Energy System Operator. Since its introduction in 2014, the capacity market has contributed to just under 20 GW of new flexible capacity needed to replace older, less efficient plants as we transition to net zero. To date, the capacity market has been successful in ensuring that Great Britain has adequate electricity capacity to meet demand, and it continues to be required to maintain our security of supply and to provide investor confidence. To ensure that the capacity market continues to function effectively, we regularly make adjustments to the implementing legislation based on our day-to-day experiences. The draft instrument makes technical improvements and changes to nine regulations to support the functioning of the capacity market, and they have been identified and explored through consultation. The changes will ensure that the capacity market regulations remain clear for market participants and that the legislation remains up to date, to enable us to better deliver the security of supply mechanism. The draft instrument does that by revoking several expired provisions of secondary legislation relating to the scheme, including references to: transitional auctions, which are no longer applicable; the temporary standstill period, which occurred in 2019; and the time-limited relief given to scheme participants in relation to coronavirus. It will also introduce a new process to establish a decarbonisation pathway for unabated gas plants currently in long-term capacity market agreements. That will allow gas plants to exit their agreements without penalty in order to transfer to a dispatchable power agreement, facilitating conversion to gas-fired power with carbon capture and storage once the technology is available. That will better align the capacity market with our clean power objectives, and it will provide gas plant operators with a future route to decarbonise their assets. The Government carried out two public consultations on this instrument. The first considered reforms to the capacity market to strengthen security of supply and enable flexible capacity to decarbonise. The second considered reforms to modernise the capacity market and improve the participation and delivery assurance of consumer-led flexibility. Both consultations were published towards the end of 2024. Respondents were broadly supportive of the instrument’s proposals. We have also made a number of technical amendments to the capacity market rules that support the regulations, which were laid before the House on 3 June. This draft instrument introduces a number of technical provisions and changes to enable the continued efficient operation of the capacity market so that it can continue to deliver on its objectives. These reforms will be critical if we are to achieve clean power by 2030. They will improve security of supply by ensuring the modernisation of the capacity market and making legislation as clear as possible for all scheme participants. We need clear routes for the decarbonisation of unabated gas and for the rapid acceleration of low-carbon, flexible capacity. And today, with these regulations, we take another step towards that. I commend the regulations to the Committee.

• 9 Jul 2025 · Draft Electricity Capacity (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I will not detain the Committee for long, but I should put on record that the shadow Minister was on the judging panel for the aforesaid awards. I am not quite sure what that says for either of us, frankly, but I thank him for whatever role he played in trying to prevent me from getting the award. It clearly did not work. I welcome the shadow Minister’s broad support for the regulations, and I welcome his support for building a cleaner energy system, which I have not heard from the Conservative party for some months—I am glad he found his old script from a year ago and is repeating it in this place again, at least up to the word “however.” Of course, the shadow Minister is right that security of supply is critical, as it is for any Government of any political party. These regulations are part of ensuring that security of supply into the future, and they are part of a series of measures we are taking to build infrastructure for the future, so that we remain resilient long into the future. That investment is important. The shadow Minister talked about pricing, and I will pick out two points. First, the clean power mission is about reducing the current volatility in the price of gas. The Conservatives supported that move, and I credit them for constructing quite a lot of the renewables we have in the country, but they have since changed tack. At some point, they need to recognise that volatile gas prices are what is causing bills to increase so substantially, and that things like contracts for difference give long-term certainty on consumer bills and bring down the system cost, but the Conservatives oppose those things. Secondly, capacity market costs have increased over time, not just in the past year but more generally. They have been impacted by a number of factors outwith anyone’s control when they were introduced. But overall, this change will bring about an overall benefit. It is important that we plan the power we might need one year or four years in the future and, of course, the cost of not having a capacity market would be a significant risk to the robustness of our electricity system. Finally, and more broadly than these regulations, curtailment payments are deeply disappointing to everyone, but the answer is to plan the system strategically so that we build things in a way that makes sense. Secondly, of course, we need to build grid infrastructure to bring the cheaper power to consumers, and to reduce that curtailment payment cost. I hope we will see support from across the House on those questions of building new network infrastructure, although I suspect we will not from the Conservatives. I warmly welcome, as I always do, the shadow Minister’s wholehearted support for the work we are doing in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and long may that continue. I commend these regulations to the Committee. Question put and agreed to.

• 7 Jul 2025 · Fossil Fuel Advertising and Sponsorship · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg, for my first petitions debate, which are a great innovation in parliamentary procedure. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Burton and Uttoxeter (Jacob Collier), I thank everyone who signed the petition. I do not think that I have been in a Westminster Hall debate with so many people in the Public Gallery. That is fantastic to see, and I thank them for being here. I join the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie), in his comments about the Piper Alpha disaster, the 37th anniversary of which was yesterday. It was the worst oil disaster in history, in terms of human lives lost, and it reminds us just how dangerous some of the work in the North sea is. It also reminds us of the importance of the culture of safety, which has changed beyond recognition since that disaster. This is a useful moment to pause and reflect on the lives that were lost. This is an important debate, and I praise my hon. Friend the Member for Burton and Uttoxeter for his excellent introductory speech. As a Member of Parliament, it is not always easy to give a balanced speech, but he attempted to put forward both sides of the argument very strongly, and I give credit to him for doing so. I also thank other hon. Members who have contributed to the debate and raised a number of points. My hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) brought his extensive medical experience to the debate. He rightly spoke about the significant impact that emissions have on people’s health, and about why climate change is a public health crisis as much as an environmental one. I also thank the hon. Member for Bristol Central (Carla Denyer) for her commitment to this issue. What she does in her spare time will now be in Hansard , so I think Wikipedia will be updated—there is no way out of that; it is on the record. I recognise the strength of feeling on this incredibly important issue; the 100,000-odd signatures on the petition that triggered the debate underline that point. Before I address the specific points in the petition, however, I want to be absolutely clear that the Government are committed to tackling climate change. In fact, the Prime Minister said recently that that is “in the DNA” of the Government. We know it is an urgent threat to life—an existential crisis for our planet—and as I have said on numerous occasions, it is no longer a theoretical future threat, but a very present reality. We do not have to look far around the world to see examples of that. Even if we did not accept all that as a huge reason to take action, we should recognise that the huge opportunity that swapping fossil fuels for clean, home-grown energy provides is much greater than just tackling the climate crisis: it can deliver our energy security in an uncertain time for our world and create tens of thousands of new jobs. It is also the industrial opportunity of the century. That is why one of the Prime Minister’s five key defining missions in government is to make this country a clean energy superpower with clean power by 2030, accelerating towards net zero. It is also why the Prime Minister has set one of the most ambitious nationally determined contribution targets in the world—to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% by 2035—and a few weeks ago my right hon. Friend the Chancellor set out the most significant investment in home-grown clean energy in British history. Let me be clear. The Government are committed to this transition because it is the right thing to do for our energy security and to tackle the climate, but we will succeed in this mission only if we bring people with us. The moment that people start to feel that this is something being done to them, not with them, is the moment when we lose the battle. The shadow Minister rightly pointed out that we have been on this transition for a long time now. We have halved emissions since 1990 because of the consensus between Governments of different persuasions. That consensus, as many people will not have failed to notice, has now fractured, which is a great shame. For us to win the political argument, we have to bring people with us. Instead of banning and blocking, our emphasis needs to be much more on empowering people to make informed choices. As the Prime Minister said before the election, after a period in which Government seemed to tread quite heavily on all our lives, part of this Government’s mission is to deliver for the people of this country, but to tread a little lighter on people’s lives. In this space, that means ensuring that everyone has access to accurate and trustworthy information about the climate crisis and the energy they use and the options available to them to be part of the transition. In that context, I turn specifically to the petition. The UK has a robust regime in place to regulate the content and targeting of advertising through the Committee of Advertising Practice, which sets the codes that are upheld, and through the Advertising Standards Authority, which enforces the codes. The Government are not involved in the codes or in any of the investigations or enforcement delivered by the Advertising Standards Authority. In 2021, those bodies launched a climate change and environment project to respond to the ongoing climate crisis and ensure that environmental claims made in advertising are not misleading or irresponsible. Those findings have informed their updated guidance on advertising. As the Government’s response to the petition sets out, we do not currently have plans to go any further on the guidance and ban or restrict fossil fuel advertising. However, that is not to say that we do not recognise that the climate crisis, as I have already outlined, is the greatest long-term global challenge we face. To address that, we need a legal framework in place to help us reduce our emissions, which will contribute to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

• 7 Jul 2025 · Fossil Fuel Advertising and Sponsorship · Hansard source

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  It goes back to what I said earlier. I take the hon. Lady’s point, and I take seriously the number of people who engaged with the petition. I also reflect on the number of organisations and activities across the country that rely on sponsorship. I do not think that we should discount that so easily, because we have incredibly important organisations that may well collapse without some of that sponsorship. There is a balance to be struck here. It is incumbent on Government to set the tone for what we expect in climate action. It is right and proper to hold private companies accountable where they share misleading information, but where they are supporting organisations that rely on their funding, I am afraid I struggle to say that we should simply withdraw that funding and, with it, the organisations that rely on it. As someone who has run a charitable organisation in the past, I can tell the hon. Lady that there is not an abundance of cash out there in alternatives. This is about a balance, but I take the hon. Lady’s point on board, and we keep these things under review, as do other Departments that have a closer relationship with the Advertising Standards Authority and deal with questions on such matters. As I say, this is about us treading a little lighter on people’s lives and making the case for taking collective action on the climate crisis, but not being in the business of banning things. I want to touch briefly on a point that the shadow Minister made, which is not often raised in these debates, about the just transition for the oil and gas industry. It is important to recognise that the industry has long been in transition, but there are many thousands of workers who rely on it for their livelihood and there are whole communities that depend on it for employment and investment. Although it is right that we are looking to the future of the North sea—a future that will include oil and gas for many decades to come, but will inevitably move towards other technologies, including carbon capture, hydrogen and offshore wind—we need to ensure that we are delivering the transition on the principle of fairness. Fairness for households means protecting bill payers from the volatility of fossil fuels, but in the North sea, fairness also means ensuring that workers and communities have a long-term, prosperous plan for their future. The North sea will play a critical role in Britain’s energy future. For nearly 60 years, people have worked in incredibly difficult circumstances in the North sea, with workers, businesses and communities helping to power our country with oil and gas, and they will do so for decades to come. Although oil and gas production from our own shores will play an important role, as we drive towards clean energy, the North sea gives us an opportunity to show new leadership. That is why in our consultation earlier this year we outlined the role that we want to see the North sea playing long into the future. I reiterate a point that I made at the beginning: this is an incredibly important subject and an important moment for us to say that the action needed on climate change is not just a question of banning advertising; it is about serious investment in how we push towards our clean energy transition. The Government are playing an active role in driving that forward, reducing emissions right across the country, creating good economic opportunities as part of that, demonstrating global leadership on climate action and delivering opportunities to every part of the country. We are bringing people with us on this journey, so that when those who stand up and say that the climate crisis is not a priority for us, or that we should not be moving to net zero because it might be too difficult, we can say that we are delivering the economic and industrial opportunities of the 21st century. That is how we bring people with us and deliver on our transition for everybody. It is also how we deliver the action needed to tackle the climate crisis. That is why, although this petition is an important conversation, we think there are already measures in place to tackle many of these issues. They may well need to go further, and that is for the bodies responsible to do themselves. We think that the action needed from Government is to drive forward this transition and to deliver jobs, energy security and climate leadership, and that is what we will continue to do.

• 7 Jul 2025 · Fossil Fuel Advertising and Sponsorship · Hansard source

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  I suspect that if we go through all the words that have ever been spoken inside and outside this place, we might find two words that go side by side quite often. In answer to the hon. Lady, no, I do not think that that is the case at all. She makes a persuasive argument, but in my view it is not the argument that applies in this particular case, which I will outline if I can make just a little more progress. To come to the broader point, it is important that people have the knowledge and information before them to make informed choices on personal decisions, particularly on installing things in their own home. However, as a Government, we have a responsibility to share factual information about the state of the climate. That is why this Government frequently talk about the importance of the climate crisis; I think I have done so three times already in this speech. I am not seeking to pretend that there is not a climate crisis, and I do not think we have hidden from that fact at all. I also want to talk about the path that the UK is currently on. We need to make a broader argument to the public that goes beyond banning advertising by certain companies. Collectively, we have a responsibility to show the opportunities presented by this transition, counter to much of the misinformation and disinformation that is being put about, including by Members of this House. The latest report by the Confederation of British Industry shows that the net zero economy is growing three times faster than the wider economy, so there is an economic argument that we have to make. Since we came into government last July, more than £40 billion of private investment has come into the clean energy industries. We believe that the best way to build on that success, bring the public with us and create a convincing argument that this is the right route is by focusing on the economic and social benefits of net zero. We have therefore been working with industry to explore how we can reduce emissions from high-carbon products, including voluntary eco-labels that help consumers to make different purchasing decisions. We are continually listening to the private sector, local government, trade unions and civil society. That is why we relaunched the Net Zero Council, and we will also publish our upcoming public participation strategy. At the same time, we are doing everything we can to slash emissions while building a more secure and stable future for our country. The shadow Minister, in customary fashion, reeled off a set of political lines about why this is the wrong choice for us as a country, despite the fact that he believed in it last year when he was delivering speeches from the Government Benches. The truth is that actions speak louder than words, which is why in the past year we have not just said that we are committed to the clean energy mission and to delivering action on climate change; we have delivered. We ended the onshore wind ban within 72 hours. We set up Great British Energy, the first publicly owned energy company in 70 years. We consented enough clean power for 2 million homes by approving applications that had languished on Ministers’ desks. We kickstarted the carbon capture industry. In the past few weeks, the Chancellor has also announced a significant investment of more than £60 billion in home-grown clean energy, including new regional hydrogen networks for transport, storage, industry and power. We also published our industrial strategy, which places clean energy right at the heart of industrial renewal over the next 10 years. The wider context of climate action is important, and we want the UK to be a world leader in this space. That is why in 2008, when my right hon. Friend the Energy Secretary held the same role, we backed the Climate Change Act 2008, making the UK the first country to introduce legally binding net zero emissions targets. Since then, we have overachieved against the first, second and third carbon budgets, and we will be setting carbon budget 7 by June 2026, in line with our statutory duties.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend always reminds me how much he knows about many of these issues; it is hugely welcome. He is right: there are wider lessons to be learned across the system, and not just for large critical national infrastructure. As he says, we have a grid that has many more power stations, of different forms, than we have ever had in the past. There are also lessons to be learned for storage, which is rightly becoming increasingly important for our energy mix. On his wider point about telecoms, in the wake of the storms earlier this year, we took a number of actions to make our electricity system more resilient. Our use of telecommunications equipment in this country is changing. Very few people now have access to traditional copper wire phones, so when telecoms equipment goes down, there is an immediate significant impact on people’s lives. I recently met the Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to discuss this issue. We will work with Ofcom and the operators to ensure that the telecoms infrastructure is as resilient as it can be.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman may be confusing two things. The National Energy System Operator is no longer part of National Grid, as it was made into a publicly owned company by the previous Government, which was introduced by us when we came into Government. So the National Energy System Operator is responsible for managing the energy system and it is different from National Grid, which is a private company that operates the electricity network in England, so those two organisations are slightly different. Of course, he is right to highlight the scale of the failure. That is why I have given a statement today and why a number of serious actions are being taken, which will be followed up in a serious way. We did not come close to a blackout earlier this year. It is important to repeat that, because there is a lot of misinformation about a particular set of statistics that were misunderstood by some people. We have never come close to that and we have never had a national power outage in our history. The aim of all the work that we do is to build as safe and resilient an electricity system as we can, so that when circumstances like this happen—because fires and accidents do happen—we will have done everything that we could have done to have mitigations in place. When such a fault is down to a failure of maintenance, we must ensure that is taken account of and never happens again.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review · Hansard source

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  First, it is important to say that Heathrow had multiple routes into its electricity network—three in fact—which is unique. This report and the processes identified in the Kelly review will give Heathrow Airport Ltd pause for thought on what it needs to do on how its network is configured and how it can adapt in such situations. Of course, this is an incredibly rare circumstance, but the whole point of resilience planning is to plan for eventualities that we think are extremely unlikely to happen but that would have a significant impact if they did. Heathrow closing is clearly one such circumstance. Secondly, my hon. Friend is right to highlight standards and systems. I want to be careful not to prejudge the review that Ofgem has announced, because there is something to be said about standards changing over time. Maintenance backlogs obviously then have to be met, and if the issue is that maintenance that should have been carried out has not been, that is clearly an issue we will take forward. But if it is just that pieces of infrastructure were subject to standards that have changed over time, we have a wider question of how we can adapt some of that infrastructure for future standards. We will look at all those points. I repeat to the House that our electricity system is incredibly robust in its resilience. We need to do everything possible to make it even more robust, so that such instances do not have quite so significant an impact as this one did.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review · Hansard source

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  With permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the publication of the report from the National Energy System Operator following its review into the fire at the North Hyde substation on 20 March. NESO’s review was commissioned jointly by the Energy Secretary and Ofgem in the immediate aftermath of the fire, which disrupted power supply to over 70,000 customers, including, of course, Heathrow airport, which closed operations on 21 March. While power from the grid was restored quickly to customers, there were significant secondary impacts to the aviation sector due to the associated closure of Heathrow airport. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport made a statement to the House at the time, where she committed that the Government would update the House as soon as the relevant investigations had concluded. That is why I am making this statement before the House on the day that NESO’s report has been published. Before I update the House on the key findings of the review, I reassure hon. Members that the Government are taking action in response to the report. We will urgently consider the findings of the review and have committed to publish a Government response that will set out a plan on how the issues identified will be addressed in order to improve our energy resilience. Having reviewed the report, I am deeply concerned—I am sure hon. Members will agree—that known risks were not addressed by National Grid Electricity Transmission, a key operator of our electricity system. NGET’s own guidance is clear, and based on the elevated moisture samples that NGET took in 2018, the asset should have remained out of service until mitigating actions were put in place, or the asset should have been carefully monitored until it could be replaced. NGET failed to take action appropriate to the severity of the risk at North Hyde. That was most likely the cause of the catastrophic fire on 20 March. I spoke to NGET this morning and made it clear that the findings are unacceptable and that action must be taken to ensure that maintenance work on critical assets is prioritised appropriately. Fire suppression systems must not be left inoperable. I am pleased to see that the regulator is taking swift action in response to the findings, announcing today that it is opening an official enforcement investigation into NGET. Ofgem will consider any possible licence condition breaches relating to the development and maintenance of National Grid Electricity Transmission’s electricity system at North Hyde. I spoke with Ofgem yesterday to express my support for that investigation and the planned audit of National Grid’s critical substation assets. That will be essential to understanding any other potential risks on the network and ensuring that those are being mitigated appropriately. The report also highlights that North Hyde substation, which was built in 1968, is subject to different design standards than newer sites that were built during the 1990s. There was not sufficient distance or a physical barrier between two transformers at North Hyde, which allowed the fire to spread. It is essential that we consider the potential risk created by differing design and standards across the electricity network, particularly as we move towards clean power 2030. That will be a key focus of the Government’s response. My Department and Ofgem will hold NGET to account for its role in the incident at North Hyde, but the extent of the impact of the incident on Heathrow operations must also come into focus. Heathrow Airport Ltd commissioned its own independent review, the Kelly review, which was published on 28 May and investigated the circumstances that led to the airport ceasing operations for most of 21 March. The review highlighted several recommendations to further improve the resilience of the airport’s internal electricity network. Those align with NESO’s findings that there are options to improve Heathrow’s own power resilience, which is the responsibility of Heathrow and not National Grid, and reduce the risk of further disruption at this scale. Heathrow benefits from three separate supply points to the electricity network. It is rare for any site to have such a resilient connection to the network. As no energy system can ever be free from disruption, this is an opportunity for Heathrow to consider investing in its internal electrical distribution network to take advantage of those multiple supply points. I welcome the continued effective collaboration between Heathrow and energy operators as part of the review. My Department and the Department for Transport will work to ensure that that collaboration continues across those critical sectors. Although such incidents are rare and the UK has a robust and resilient system, there are always wider lessons to be learned. The majority of recommendations made by NESO in its report suggest potential improvements that could be considered by operators across the energy sector. In collaboration with NESO, Ofgem and other industry partners, my Department will ensure the delivery and implementation of those energy recommendations. However, the report findings are also applicable to wider Government policy on resilience, both in the energy sector and across other critical national infrastructure sectors. Ensuring the protection and resilience of critical national infrastructure continues to be a key priority for Government, with action already being taken. The Government’s recently published 10-year infrastructure strategy committed to strengthening resilience standards across critical national infrastructure. Further, the Cabinet Office will imminently publish the UK Government resilience action plan, which will articulate Government’s new strategic approach to resilience and is the outcome of the resilience review announced by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in this place last year. My Department is already taking steps to enhance our current approach to the designation of critical national infrastructure in the energy sector. We recently introduced specific licence conditions that give NESO responsibility for data gathering and technical analysis to independently inform the Government’s decisions on the designation of CNI, ensuring our most critical infrastructure in the energy sector is always as resilient as possible. We will work with the Cabinet Office and wider Government to develop a full response to the North Hyde report and set out how we will tackle some of the cross-sector resilience challenges highlighted, particularly given the importance of the energy sector for the continued operation of so much of our critical national infrastructure. I want to restate that Great Britain continues to have a resilient energy network. Even though incidents such as this are rare, it is essential that we learn the lessons to maintain and, where possible, improve our resilience. The Government response will set out our plans for how we will continue to do so. I thank NESO for carrying out such a comprehensive review over the past three months. The report shows the value of learning from past emergencies such as this. NESO’s newly established functions in energy resilience will enable Government, the energy industry and the regulator to truly understand whole energy system risks and mitigations, proactively ensuring that Great Britain continues to have a reliable energy supply, which is critical to the whole of society. I commend this statement to the House.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review · Hansard source

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  First, on the point about joining up, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. The response that I have seen from National Grid identifies that as one of the points it will take away. It will look at information sharing and joining up the data in various systems, and at how to ensure that is followed through on. It is important to say that there is also learning, not just for National Grid but across the energy system, through looking at what other transmission owners do and at what the Government do around sharing information where we can. There is a lot of learning and a lot of recommendations will be taken forward. On the question of Heathrow, much was identified in the Kelly review, which looked specifically at these operations. On the question of whether there was a single point of failure at Heathrow, the airport is one of the biggest consumers of electricity in the country and one of our most important pieces of critical national infrastructure. It is important that those at Heathrow reflect on this report and take some lessons from it. The report has shown—this is a lesson for everyone—the importance of investing in electricity resilience and preparing for the worst, even if we think there is a low chance of the worst actually happening. I completely agree with my hon. Friend’s final point: it is in all our interests to spend time, effort and investment in making sure that our energy system continues to be as resilient as possible.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to broaden this beyond the electricity system and North Hyde to take in wider questions around critical national infrastructure. He is also right about investing in the future. I always think that grids and networks set the heart racing a little faster, but that is just me. This is important, and this Government are investing in this infrastructure; just this week Ofgem announced record investment in it. I hope, given the importance of this statement, that Members on all sides of the House will recognise the importance of that investment. On the points around wider resilience, the Cabinet Office is leading on trying to bring together what I think it is fair to say has been too fragmented a landscape in resilience across Government. My Department is responsible for a number of key risks in the national risk register. It is right that the lead Departments have expertise in certain areas, but if that information is not shared coherently across Government, we increase the chance of not getting the answers right. A lot of work is being done in that regard. We are also looking at how we share data across all sectors of critical national infrastructure within Government. We will say more about that in the resilience action plan, which the Cabinet Office is working on at the moment. Of course, the 10-year infrastructure strategy is also about how we will invest for the long term in the infrastructure that keeps our country running.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review · Hansard source

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  I have spoken to colleagues across the Department on these questions. They are rightly constantly looking at how we review our processes. Importantly, they are also working outside of Government and trying to break down some of the silos, so we are co-ordinating with different parts of Government that have different responsibilities. But the right hon. Member is right, and we will constantly push to do more of that. The question of exercises is important. We had a really significant exercise under the previous Government, which looked at the Government’s response to a significant power outage. We are putting in place many of the recommendations from that exercise, which are important to take forward, but more exercise is useful. I would slightly separate the response from the infrastructure itself failing, which is what we need to investigate quickly. The Kelly review set out that Heathrow’s response to the incident was in line with its response plan. Although the outcome was clearly not what any of us would have wanted, it goes to a wider question about the infrastructure at Heathrow, not so much the actual plan put in place when the incident did occur. Those are two slightly different things, but they are both extremely important.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his remarks and for the way he made them. He is absolutely right to recognise the heroic role that our emergency services played on the night—I am sorry that I did not say that at the start of my statement—as well as the engineers, who worked in incredibly hard in difficult circumstances in the hours that followed the fire to try to get services reconnected as quickly as possible. There are very serious questions to answer, and I hope that came through in my statement—it certainly came through in the conversation I had with National Grid earlier. We are seeking urgent assurances that the work that should have been done is being done, and that there are no other similar situations. Ofgem is taking the matter seriously, with two reviews, one into National Grid and the other into the wider energy system, to see if there are any further lessons to learn. However, the right hon. Gentleman is right and I completely agree with his point that the Government need to be front-footed and take a leadership role in driving the work forward: we cannot leave it to individual companies to mark their own homework. We are doing that partly by bringing together our resilience work across Government, and I will soon be chairing a new group that brings together everyone who has responsibility for critical national infrastructure in our energy system, to ensure that energy security, cyber-security and other threats to our infrastructure are taken seriously, so that action is taken at the highest level of Government to ensure that we do not have a repeat of the incident in future.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Heathrow Substation Outage: NESO Review · Hansard source

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  I was going to start—and I will, regardless of the rest of that speech—by warmly welcoming the right hon. Lady back to her place as the shadow Secretary of State. I will miss sparring with my Scottish colleague, the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie), although I am sure we will still have opportunities to do so. The right hon. Lady might come to miss the lack of sleep at home compared with the noise in this place, but she is very welcome back. She has obviously taken the last few months to write a wrap-up speech on a whole range of issues, and I am glad to give her the opportunity to pontificate here on many of those things, but let me stick to the questions that related to the statement that I have delivered to the House today. The right hon. Lady asked about the role that National Grid has played. Ofgem has opened an enforcement investigation into this incident to get to the bottom of exactly what National Grid has or has not done, and whether there are possible breaches of licence. That investigation should now take its course. There are clearly serious questions to answer, and that is exactly the point that I put to National Grid today. I have asked for an immediate response on what action it is taking and for assurances that there are no further maintenance backlogs that it has not acted on, and I expect that by the end of this week. Ofgem has also instructed a wider audit of maintenance work across the energy system, which will identify if there are any similar issues. On the point about being held accountable, clearly I am going to wait for the outcome of Ofgem’s investigation. It is the responsibility of Ofgem as the regulator to determine whether National Grid is in breach of any of its licence conditions and what the appropriate action should be if it is. I will wait for those findings to come through. The right hon. Lady raised an important point about the physical barriers. Clearly there are differences because the time at which some of our infrastructure was built and the different standards that were in place at different times. We need to make a wider review to see what is actually possible with some of this infrastructure; it was not always possible to build to the standards we now expect, but everything that is being built now is being built to the highest standards. I want the same assurances that she has called for: to know that anything that was built previously is safe. On the wider resilience questions, I am not going to get into a back-and-forward on the frankly quite ludicrous claims that the right hon. Lady made. I hope this is not an indication of the tone we can expect in the years ahead, because there are some difficult decisions for us all to wrestle with. There is the really important question about delivering our energy security in, as she says, an increasingly uncertain world. We are sprinting towards clean power to remove the volatility of fossil fuels from our system. She opposes all of that investment. There is also a critical role to play in upgrading the network infrastructure across the country, which her party also opposes. There are some really searching questions for the Conservatives—who were, of course, in charge of this infrastructure for 14 years—about their role and what part they want to play. It is easy to shout from the sidelines with accusations. It is far more useful and important for a party that was in government for 14 years and is now the official Opposition to come up with some credible questions about how we deliver the energy system of the future. We are going to get on with delivering it.