Michael Shanks MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for how he has put the question. Energy security is at the heart of what we are trying to do, because our exposure to fossil fuels is what led to some of the most significant price spikes in all our constituents’ bills—spikes that they still face today. Our continued exposure to the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—even though none of that Russian gas now reaches us—is because of the international markets; they drive this forward. The only way to take back control of our energy is by building the clean power system of the future, and the pace of that transition is absolutely right. We are driving forward momentum, to make sure that the investment comes forward to create jobs in the economy right now. That has been successful; there has been £50 billion of private investment just in the past year. My view is that 10 or 20 years ago, both under the previous Labour Government and under the Conservative Government, we should have recognised that a transition was under way and put in place a credible plan for protecting the jobs. That was not done, but we are determined to do it, so that the transition for oil and gas workers is into good, well-paid jobs in renewables, carbon capture, hydrogen and other technologies, and we have a genuinely just and prosperous transition.

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

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  Let me say to the hon. Gentleman’s constituents, and indeed to anyone’s constituents, that over the past few years they have been paying the price for what happens as a result of our exposure to fossil fuels. The last Government had to spend tens of billions of pounds on reducing people’s bills because of that exposure. The hon. Gentleman may have forgotten about that, but I can tell him that his constituents will not have, because they are still paying the price for it. This Government are determined not to make the same mistake again. The Opposition are willing to go back to the fossil fuel casino again and again and hope that it gives them a better hand, but we are going to build the clean power system of the future and bring down bills for good.

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

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  We know that winter has come when the hon. Gentleman turns up in his lovely knitted jumpers; it is a pleasure to see them back again. He and I have had a number of conversations on this issue, and I recognise how seriously he takes it. There have been some good moves recently to look at the legacy left behind, particularly housing. This is about building housing that suits the workforce, but can be left behind for communities afterwards. We need a lot of work in partnership with the Scottish Government, who have responsibility for housing policy, to make sure that the opportunities are taken forward. The Minister for energy consumers, my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West (Martin McCluskey), will say much more in due course about our plan for warm homes. That will result in significant spending in Scotland, but that will be in the hands of the Scottish Government, who have cut this budget time and again. I hope that they will change their ways, and will help the hon. Gentleman’s constituents to have warmer homes this winter.

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

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  I was going to say that that might be a note of consensus across the House, but I remembered that the SNP has an ideological objection to nuclear in Scotland, so it will not benefit from the economic opportunities that come from thousands of well-paid, skilled and trade-unionised jobs in nuclear. We believe that there is a long-term future for nuclear, which is why we announced funding for Sizewell C, concluded the small modular reactor programme, and have been working with the US Government to bring forward private funding partnerships to build the latest technology in the UK. That comes with thousands of jobs, will help us to deliver on energy security long into the future, and helps to tackle the climate crisis. This party believes that the climate crisis is an existential threat, and we should do everything that we can to tackle it.

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

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  I always welcome the hon. Gentleman’s contributions in our many debates on energy, both here and in Westminster Hall. He is right that the impact of job losses goes well beyond the individuals, although I reiterate that in this case there have been no job losses in the UK; Petrofac continues to be successful, and it is in all our interests to make sure that remains the case. On the hon. Gentleman’s wider question, I know that the impact is felt on supply chain jobs in his constituency and across the country. That is why we need to build up the new energy infrastructure here as well. For too long, all those offshore wind platforms that were towed into British waters gave jobs to other countries, instead of creating jobs here in the UK. We are determined to do something different. We are driving forward investment in the supply chains to make sure that there is a viable future for his constituents and for those across the country.

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

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  Let me just challenge the premise of that question once again. Petrofac’s UK arm has not gone under; it is working today as it did yesterday and the day before and the day before that, and as it will the day after. It is a successful, growing business, and we have a responsibility to talk up the industry to ensure that it has a viable, long-term future. In the next few days we will continue to work intensively with the company to make that happen, but we do have a responsibility not to undermine a successful business, which is what the UK arm of Petrofac is. The company that went into administration today is the topco of Petrofac, which has no employees.

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady rightly takes every opportunity to ask me about the range of energy issues in her constituency, and I thank her for that. We have concluded the small modular reactor programme that we inherited from the previous Government, with Rolls-Royce winning that competition. The future of nuclear will be taken forward with Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C and the future of the SMR programme, but also with private sector investment in the US-UK partnership, which will build it. The decision on where the SMRs will be is under consideration by my noble Friend, the Minister for nuclear, and we will have more to say about that in due course.

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

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  We have obviously been liaising with the company over quite a long period of time on the restructuring; indeed, the previous Government did as well. We have been looking at this issue and will continue to work very closely with the company to ensure that there is a viable long-term future for the UK part. But it is an in-demand business and, as I said just last month, it expanded some of its contracts, which shows that it is successful. Of course, it has a highly skilled workforce working in a huge range of jobs right across oil and gas. The wider question about investment into renewables is also one that we should take seriously. We have a huge opportunity in the United Kingdom to capitalise on the economic opportunities that come from offshore and onshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture, but that requires consistency and a view that the UK is a safe place to invest—things that were threatened by the Conservatives.

• 27 Oct 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Industry · Hansard source

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  We have been looking at a number of proposals. I met the five companies that are the frontrunners for National Wealth Fund investment, along with the Scottish Government Energy Minister. A number of propositions are to be taken forward, and I hope we will have an announcement to make in due course. Of course, we have been trying not to just spend £200 million on the first thing that comes along but to find the genuinely long-term, viable industrial opportunities that deliver jobs at Grangemouth, not just for a year or two but long into the future. The hon. Gentleman is right that for far too long the site has been the victim of a lack of planning, and it is an example of a just transition done wrongly. We want to make that different by having a serious plan for long-term jobs on the site. The NWF has brought companies to the table, and we will deliver an announcement on that in due course.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Coal Tip Safety and New Extraction Licences · Hansard source

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  First, I should say that I am not the Chancellor. Such questions are rightly for the Chancellor at Budgets and spending reviews. However, I will say, as the Minister responsible for the Coal Authority, that we will look at this. The £600 million figure that was given was a provisional estimate, not a programmed budget. It was based on the very limited information that was available in 2020. A considerable amount of work, particularly on the mapping of these sites, has been done subsequently, and £180 million was given as the realistic amount of funding that could be used to protect communities now. This needs to be based on evidence. Bandying around bigger figures does not necessarily improve the quality of the programme. The figure at the moment gives a signal of how seriously we take it, but also of the practical funding on the ground, to deliver what we think, based on more detailed information, the actual programme that is necessary. But of course we will always look at requests. I want to reflect on some other things that have been established. The Disused Tips Authority for Wales will prevent unstable disused tips from threatening welfare. That is an important step forward, and will bring together some key people to deal with the matter. The Mining Remediation Authority, formerly known as the Coal Authority, is one of my Department’s partner bodies and is also playing an active role—in working partnership with the Welsh Government, in an advisory role—to ensure that a risk-based inspection and monitoring programme is in place, which has not been the case in the past.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Coal Tip Safety and New Extraction Licences · Hansard source

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  I must come to an end, so that the hon. Member for Caerfyrddin has some time to wind up. We will deliver on our manifesto commitment not to grant new coal licences. We will continue to build the energy system of the future. We will create good, well-paid jobs across the country. We will be forward-looking—not just delivering for people now and dealing with the legacy of what we built in past decades, but ensuring that we can pass our country and our world to future generations. We need to be safe for the future, with an economic and energy system that is built for the future as well. All those things come together in our clean power mission and in what we are trying to do. Those who oppose that should recognise that they are against the economic opportunity of the century and against the climate action that is necessary now, not in the future. Together, we can rebuild this consensus. I look forward to working with hon. Members across the House on how we deal with this specific issue, but also on how we rebuild the wider consensus on the future of our planet.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Coal Tip Safety and New Extraction Licences · Hansard source

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  I cannot give an exact date, I am afraid, partly because bringing forward legislation is not in the gift of any one Minister, but I can say that it is entirely still our aim to bring forward that ban. To pick up a point made by a couple of other hon. Members, it is also our aim to bring forward a ban on fracking across the country; we will do so as soon as we are able to introduce legislation. We had a Bill in the King’s Speech, and we still intend to bring forward that legislation as soon as possible, but that is dependent on parliamentary time. I will conclude by addressing the wider context. The hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire made the point about phasing out coal; the shadow Minister reflected on the same point. To me, one of the great sadnesses of the past year is that we have moved away from a consensus that was so incredibly important for this country. We were a leader on tackling climate change under different Governments, and that was reflected across the world in some of the strongest possible ways, by driving other countries towards ambitious targets of their own. In September last year, I was at the closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar, the last coal-fired power station in Britain. I had the privilege of being in the control room with the workforce who had been there for decades, as they were switching off coal for the last time. It was a huge achievement, under Labour Governments, Conservative Governments and, briefly, the Liberal Democrat and Conservative Government. That consensus allowed us to move forward as a country, recognising that the future of our planet is important. It saddens me greatly that that consensus does not now exist. We now have a script that is, frankly, one of climate denialism. It also misses the point about the economic opportunity that our country faces. A few weeks ago, for the first time ever, we powered this country without any fossil fuels at all. That is a huge milestone for us. It is an example of how we can be climate leaders, but also build legacies and communities right across Wales and the UK with good, sustainable jobs—the jobs of the future, not a harking back to a bygone era. It is about securing jobs; as the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick) said, it is about renewal, not nostalgia. That is an incredibly important point about building the economic system of the future.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Coal Tip Safety and New Extraction Licences · Hansard source

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  I will not question that process today, but I suspect that the hon. Lady will.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Coal Tip Safety and New Extraction Licences · Hansard source

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  That is a very interesting point. I am sure that the Mining Remediation Authority, which I think I am meeting next week, will be delighted to hear the hon. Member’s praise, although perhaps it is also listening to this debate and wondering slightly how it is going to deliver another piece of work. The hon. Member’s point is useful, and I will take it back to colleagues. To date, the MRA has carried out 3,500 inspections, with the higher-rated category D and C tips continuing to be inspected on a six-monthly or annual basis. Let me turn to the question of licensing. The Mining Remediation Authority currently serves as the licensor for most coal extraction in Great Britain. It is the owner of the UK’s unworked coal reserves. Our manifesto was very clear that we would not grant new coal licences, so we will amend the MRA’s licensing duties. The MRA takes the view that removing coal from tips that are made up of coalmining waste does not fall under the licensable activities defined in its legislation. Extracting coal from tips does, however, require planning consent, which has to address all the environmental impacts individually. Most coal tips are owned by local authorities or private individuals, who under current legislation are responsible for maintaining their safety and stability. Local authorities have the primary responsibility for tip washing and reclamation schemes, through their planning and enforcement powers. We acknowledge the suggestion to make this type of coal extraction a licensable activity under the MRA, which would allow for a licensing prohibition, but our view is that the current planning policies around the regulations set by devolved Governments already provide robust frameworks. We are a Government who believe in devolution. We created devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland because we believe in devolving power to those authorities, so they are closer to people and to individual circumstances. It is right that we take their lead on these questions. Their firm view is that they can bring into effect the aim of the Welsh Government and the UK Government to make sure that extraction of coal is a thing of the past. Their view is that their existing powers do that.

• 22 Oct 2025 · Coal Tip Safety and New Extraction Licences · Hansard source

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  I thank most hon. Members for the tone of the debate. I will return to the shadow Minister’s remarks later. I thank the hon. Member for Caerfyrddin (Ann Davies) for securing the debate, and for recognising the context that it sits in. Several hon. Members have done the same. I wish to reflect first, as she did, on the fact that 59 years ago, 116 children and 28 adults lost their lives in Aberfan. I, too, am an MP for a constituency with a legacy of coalmining. In Lanarkshire in Scotland, we know that the hon. Member’s point about coal running through the legacy of people and communities is important. Even generations on from the coalmines in my constituency, I still see the impacts and the outcomes for people right across my community. I entirely understand the point, which is well made. I thank hon. Members for grounding their remarks in that legacy and for recognising, as the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Pippa Heylings) did, how far we have come as a country in phasing out coal, and the importance of the consensus that got us to that point, while paying tribute to those workers, as I pay tribute to the workers in the oil and gas industry who powered the country for 60 years. Recognising the incredibly important role that they played in powering our country is important, but it is equally important to recognise that we have made progress since those days. We should recognise with pride the role that they played, and recognise with pride how good it is that we have moved away from having to put people down coalmines to power our country. I thank hon. Members for that recognition. The debate had two key themes that I will try to focus on: first, disused coal tips and the funding for them, on which I will reflect, and secondly, the future extraction of coal. The disused coal tips right across Wales are the enduring legacy that people see and experience. Coal tip disasters have left deep scars on many Welsh communities. As many hon. Members have said in this debate, the risks—particularly of climate change and worsening weather conditions leading to incidents in future—are significant. That is partly why we should redouble our efforts to tackle climate change, and there is broad consensus on that, although not from everywhere. It is also why we should do everything that we possibly can to maintain the safety of those coal tips. We take the situation very seriously. That is why just a few months ago, the Chancellor and the First Minister of Wales visited a coal tip site on the banks of the River Afan near Port Talbot in the historic industrial heart of Wales to see the work that is being done to stabilise a former coal tip. The UK Government and the Welsh Government are working together in partnership to secure coal tip sites, including by providing the funding to which hon. Members have referred. In the spending review, we announced £118 million of funding to protect Welsh communities, in addition to the £25 million from last year’s autumn Budget. Combined with funding from the Welsh Government, that figure of £143 million increases to £220 million. Some points were made about whether more funding is necessary. We will obviously keep those questions under review, but the suggestion does not always follow that a figure is the way to deliver the necessary work. Yes, we want to be ambitious about we can achieve with this programme. The funding that we have put in place—the £220 million—is what can actually deliver work on the ground at the moment. If there is future ambition in that programme, of course we will look at that. But giving a bigger figure that the Welsh Government, who are on the ground dealing with this, have not asked for, because they do not have capacity to move any quicker on some of these projects, is not an answer to the question. The £220 million has been given to deal with the issue at hand and to move forward with a programme in the fastest way possible, in partnership with others. We will, of course, continue to look at these questions in future.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Electricity Infrastructure: Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  I will not give way; sorry. That will also include a centralised network plan so that we have a network that fits generation across the country, and so that we build as little as possible while still getting the most out of the energy system. In the minute or two I have left, I want to say that we recognise the point about community benefits. Because of the network infrastructure, electricity is flowing through communities that do not necessarily understand the benefit they get from it. First, cheaper power in the system brings down everyone’s bills, so it is in all of our interest. Secondly, we have recognised the problem, which is why we have introduced community benefits for households directly affected by transmission infrastructure—the first time we have done that as a country. There is money off bills for people who have infrastructure in their locality, and there are also community benefits for substations and other infrastructure. That is currently commonplace for onshore wind and solar, but not for network infrastructure. We want to change that so there is a direct benefit from this infrastructure. We need to be honest about the scale of the challenge we face as a country. We cannot meet future electricity demand without building grid infrastructure. I am sorry to say that means it has to be built somewhere. There is no magical third place where we can build infrastructure. We want to work with communities to make sure it is done with them, wherever possible, and so they benefit from it, but ultimately the whole country benefits when we have a functioning grid that delivers cheap, clean, secure electricity to people’s homes and businesses. I have 20 seconds left, but I am very happy to meet the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, as I am genuinely happy to meet Members on both sides of the House. It is important that we do this with communities. I want to hear their concerns and questions. That does not mean it will always be possible to do exactly what every community wants, but I am happy to have those conversations. I thank the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk for securing this debate. Question put and agreed to .

• 21 Oct 2025 · Electricity Infrastructure: Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  It is entirely ridiculous; the hon. Member is absolutely right. The thing about nuclear is that it often builds communities around it that respect the role it plays in the energy mix. Generations of people have worked at these power stations—they often start as apprentices and are still there decades later—so we do not disagree on that point. We should be building nuclear in Scotland, and I hope the SNP either loses in May so that we can change the position, or that the SNP changes its position. There are no SNP Members here today to answer that point. The second point on which I agree with the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is the role of rooftop solar. We will be saying much more about that, but in the solar road map, we are clear that we should be building on every rooftop possible. It is a no-brainer, and there is support right across the country for it. Wherever we can put solar panels on rooftops—warehouses, car parks, supermarkets and so on—we should. That is why, in England, we have been funding schools and hospitals to do so. We would have liked to do it in Scotland as well, but once again the Scottish Government did not want to partner with us on that project, so it is for them to take that forward. I will now reflect on what we are trying to achieve, because it is important not to forget the overall ambition for where our energy system needs to be. Every piece of infrastructure that we build across the country, whether it is wind turbines, solar panels or network infrastructure, is critical to protecting this country from future price spikes, like those that have hit households so much. However, on infrastructure and the network in particular, there is a wider question about decades of under-investment in our grid, which has been holding back not just our energy system from working as we would want but economic growth. I gently challenge the hon. Gentleman’s points on AI and data centres. I understand the challenge they present, but they are also a huge economic opportunity. Right across the country, we are seeing good economic growth prospects being closed down because we do not have the grid connections that would allow them to be switched on. They are going to other countries as a result, so we need to fix this issue. Delivering any infrastructure, whether it is energy, prisons or hospitals, involves tough choices, trade-offs and local impacts. That is precisely why we have a robust planning system. It is not a cop-out to say that I am not responsible for planning decisions in Scotland, and the hon. Gentleman knows that. It is for the Scottish Government to answer for the planning and consenting decisions they have made in Scotland, but every individual project is assessed independently and fairly through the Scottish planning system for proposals in Scotland. If there are specific points about consultations not being done effectively, I am very happy to receive correspondence on that from the hon. Gentleman. It is for the Scottish Government, as part of their planning process, to follow that through, but I am happy to facilitate the exchange of that information.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Electricity Infrastructure: Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  I am, and I am always happy to have more conversations with Ofgem about its regulatory role. If the hon. Gentleman has specific things he wants to raise, I am happy to follow up. I will not give way again, as we have very short time. While it is absolutely right that communities should have a voice in this, should be able to scrutinise planning applications, should be able to object and should be able to understand how those objections affect the proposals, it is also right that we recognise as a country that we have to build infrastructure and that it has to be built somewhere. That is vital for our energy security and for the future of our country. The grid has suffered from decades of under-investment. The legacy means we are constraining the amount of cheap, clean power we have in our system. Upgrading and expanding the electricity grid is not optional. The reason I challenge some of what the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk said earlier is because a number of his proposals were not in the previous Government’s plan for the future of the energy grid. It was the previous Government who said that we need a great British grid upgrade, and they outlined many of the plans that are now being delivered across the country. Undergrounding was not a feature of those plans either. It is critical that our current grid, which was largely built in the 1960s and was not designed to handle the type of power generation or electricity demand we have now, is upgraded. In 2023, the previous Government estimated that four times as much transmission infrastructure would need to be built by the end of the decade as had been built by 1990. This is not a Labour Government plan; it is the previous Conservative Government’s plan. The hon. Gentleman mentioned the role of NESO, and I want to reflect on the point that he and other hon. Members rightly make that strategically planning the future of our energy system has been a significant failure. The truth is that decades ago, under the previous Labour and Conservative Governments, we should have more holistically planned the future of our energy system to make sure we get the most out of it, and to make sure that we are building the least possible amount of network infrastructure. That work was not done, so NESO is now leading the strategic spatial energy plan to make sure that, across the country, we have a holistic view of what our future energy system should look like.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Electricity Infrastructure: Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  I will just finish this point, as I have very brief time. It is right that the consultation is genuine and that people have a voice in what happens. I will give way very briefly, but I have only four minutes.

• 21 Oct 2025 · Electricity Infrastructure: Rural Communities · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) for securing this debate. I have a huge amount of respect for him. He and I sparred at Scotland Office questions when we faced each other from different places in the Chamber. I genuinely take these issues seriously. In his list of quotes, I do not think he will find one in which I have dismissed community concerns. I have said repeatedly in Parliament that I take community concerns seriously, and I have met MPs from across the House to talk about these issues. I have probably had more meetings on these issues than previous Ministers have, so I do take them seriously, but they have to be balanced with ensuring that we are building infrastructure for the country’s future. That balance is difficult, and I will get into that throughout my speech, but I challenge the idea that I do not take these issues seriously, or that I do not respect his constituents’ views, because I do. I will start with two points on which we agree, and then go on to answer some of the hon. Gentleman’s specific points. First, and most importantly, I will pick up on the point that he and the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) made about the role of nuclear, which we should not forget has a hugely important role in our future energy mix. We are extremely ambitious about the role of nuclear and have announced funding for projects across the UK, but unfortunately not in Scotland at this stage. I genuinely hope that position changes soon, because there is huge potential. A few weeks ago, I visited Torness nuclear power station, which the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk mentioned. I met the workforce, some of whom have been working there for decades. It is long-term, good, well-paid employment, and there is an opportunity on that site to look at the future of new modular reactors. I hope we will have that opportunity, but the SNP Government block us from even considering sites in Scotland at the moment. I hope that will change.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Energy Infrastructure Applications: Land Use Changes · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to highlight that building renewable infrastructure is how we will bring down bills for everyone in the long term. It is incredibly important that we can store cheaper electricity, including through battery storage, so that we can deploy it in the system far more regularly than we are currently deploying gas, which is what is driving up people’s bills. We also want the communities that host the infrastructure to benefit directly from it. They will benefit from cheaper bills, as well as from direct community benefits. We have been consulting over the past few months on whether those should be made mandatory, and whether we should raise the expectations on developers.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Energy Infrastructure Applications: Land Use Changes · Hansard source

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  We are delivering a strategic spatial energy plan to support a more actively planned approach to energy infrastructure. It will consider wider demands, including food production, water supply and nature recovery. The Departments for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and for Energy Security and Net Zero will ensure that the strategic spatial energy plan and the land use framework work together.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Energy Infrastructure Applications: Land Use Changes · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is right to say that public confidence in the safety of all infrastructure is incredibly important. Battery technology is no more unsafe than any other technology, but if there is a public perception that it is, then it is right that we take action to deal with that. That is why I am hosting a roundtable to look at what more we can do around safety, and it is why the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is doing work on some of the regulations in this space. This is regulated closely by the Health and Safety Executive, but I am happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss what more we can do.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Onshore Wind Turbines · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to recognise the importance of the industry in his constituency. Vestas is a key part of the UK’s wind supply chain. The Isle of Wight is already a successful centre for wind blade manufacturing and research and development. I can assure him that we are doing everything we can to work with partners and right across Government on the proposal, and that includes the agreement in principle between Vestas and the Government to support the factory’s repurposing to make onshore wind blades, saving 300 jobs.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Onshore Wind Turbines · Hansard source

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  On the substance of the hon. Member’s question, we launched the future of energy in the North sea consultation with a detailed set of questions, which we are analysing at the moment. We will publish the response to that as soon as possible, but I am sure she will understand that we want to make sure we have it absolutely right. I have engaged with industry to tell it about the timeframes for that throughout the process. Let me just say one thing. The hon. Member talks about uncertainty. What could be more uncertain than the Leader of the Opposition coming to Aberdeen and talking down the investment in offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture—the very thing that will retain the supply chain in the north-east of Scotland? Uncertainty is what the Conservative party brings to this.