Oral Answers to Questions

Al Pinkerton Excerpts

Tuesday 10th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

2. What steps his Department is taking to help reduce industrial electricity prices.

[Dr Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath) (LD)]

10. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of supporting businesses with the cost of energy.

[Zöe Franklin (Guildford) (LD)]

18. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of supporting businesses with the cost of energy.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris McDonald]

It is exactly that disparity in international energy prices for industry, which the previous Conservative Government left us with, that we are addressing through our clean power 2030 mission. However, we recognise that as clean power is coming online, industry will need further support. Both Ametek and SSS Gears are exactly the sorts of manufacturing businesses that this Government wish to support through initiatives such as our British industrial competitiveness scheme. The consultation for that scheme has just closed—I do hope both of those businesses responded to that consultation—and we will publish the results shortly.

[Dr Pinkerton]

Small and large businesses in my constituency of Surrey Heath—everything from small cafés to care providers and large manufacturers—tell me that they are being crushed by high energy costs. Given that the wholesale cost of gas has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, can the Minister indicate what proportion of a typical business energy bill is driven by wholesale costs, network charges and policy costs, and which one of those is likely to be borne down on over the next year as a direct consequence of Government action?

[Chris McDonald]

The hon. Gentleman is quite right to point out the impact of energy costs on small businesses. As we have seen, that has been largely driven over many years by the linkage between energy costs and gas prices, which is something that this Government are determined to deal with as we pile on renewable energy as part of our clean power mission. UK gas costs are competitive with Europe after policy costs are included, but of course we want to remove businesses from having to rely on the whims of the fossil fuel market and enable them to rely on low-cost, secure, home-grown energy.