Oral Answers to Questions

Jacob Collier Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

6. What steps he is taking to help increase the production of domestic clean power.

[Jacob Collier (Burton and Uttoxeter) (Lab)]

12. What steps he is taking to help increase the production of clean power.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband)]

The two renewables auctions under this Government have secured power for the equivalent of 23 million homes, and we are embarked on the biggest nuclear building programme for 50 years. The war in Iran shows that we need to go further and faster, so we will open our next renewables auction next month. We recently signed contracts for a fleet of Rolls-Royce small modular reactors. Clean power is already reducing wholesale electricity prices by up to a quarter, and those steps will do more to protect families and businesses across our country.

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The central fact that we cannot get away from is that we are price takers not price makers when it comes to oil and gas, and that is the fundamental contradiction at the heart of where the Opposition are. We are going to drive further and faster on clean power, including electrification across the economy. Indeed, customers are already better protected as a result of the renewables in our system, but we must go further and faster.

[Jacob Collier]

The US-Israel war has pushed up prices for my constituents and is yet more evidence that we need to be energy self-sufficient with clean power, so I greatly welcome the £2.6 billion investment in Rolls-Royce for small modular reactors. That is great news for my constituents, as well as those in Derby and the wider region, and those reactors will help with Britain’s energy security. Will the Secretary of State say more about how GB Energy will invest in such projects?

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I was pleased to sign that contract with Rolls-Royce in the past few weeks. We are world leaders in small modular reactors and this is a massive innovation, not just for Britain but for the world. It is not just the jobs constructing the SMRs that are really important, but the jobs in the supply chain too. I look forward to working with my hon. Friend and Members across the House on ensuring that their constituents benefit from those good, well-paid jobs.