Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower

Debate between Bob Blackman and Dave Doogan

Thursday 9th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson), who makes her points with great candour and is, as always, well researched. I was honoured to witness the first King’s Speech in more than 70 years, albeit from a tightly cramped room at the back of the House of Lords, not being able to see the King and just about able to hear him. However, it was a true landmark in British history.

I welcome the Government’s commitment to ensuring that we deal with long-term issues and change the country for the better. There is an agenda of exciting Bills that will have an exceedingly positive impact on the people of this country, but much of government, of course, does not have to be legislation; it can be good administration.

On energy, I well remember how in the 1980s, before I came to this House, I account managed the computer equipment that kept our power stations running, and indeed in the early 1990s I was responsible for the team who kept our power stations’ telecommunications running as part of my roles at Unisys and then BT. The transformation that has taken place in our power stations up and down the country is enormous. From having mainly coal-fired power stations, it is truly transformational that we now have renewables supplying so much more of our power, but what we have failed to do over successive Governments is invest in the new nuclear power stations required to replace the ageing ones. My hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) mentioned small modular nuclear reactors. We must advance that technology rapidly, get it in place and ensure that nuclear plays its part, because it is vital for our energy security that we have a mixed supply of energy, with renewables, nuclear, and fossil fuels where required.

[Dave Doogan]

rose—

[Bob Blackman]

By the way, the hon. Member for Angus (Dave Doogan) referred to the title of this great debate, but he was wrong in that regard as it was chosen by the Opposition, not the Government. I will give way to him in a moment.

The reality is that we need to ensure a continuity of supply. We should understand that nuclear power is vital to keeping the baseload, and we build on that on the grid when demand increases. Of course, gas-fired power stations are often required at peaks and troughs when we need to get energy quickly into the grid. Unfortunately, it often seems that many colleagues do not understand the industry or the science behind it.

[Dave Doogan]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for his insight and education in the vagaries of this place—although I have no intention of hanging around long enough to become expert myself. He is an advocate of SMR, which he is entitled to be. What is his best guess for when the first megawatt of electricity from SMR will be generated in the United Kingdom?