All 2 Debates between Joan Walley and Danny Alexander

Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill

Debate between Joan Walley and Danny Alexander
Monday 17th September 2012

(11 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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I have a good deal more detail to get to in my speech, and I shall do so as soon as I have got through the various interventions that have been made. However, I shall not list individual projects before we have agreed guarantees for them, for the very good reason that it would be wrong to set out in this House those projects that could potentially benefit from the Bill, as doing so could either disturb the commercial position of some of the finance that has already been secured or undermine the discussions that we are engaged in to put in place such guarantees.

Joan Walley Portrait Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)
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When the Minister gives the details of where the investment will be going, will he tell the House what regard will be given in the decision-making process to the Climate Change Act 2008 and the work of the Committee on Climate Change? It would be short-termism and completely the wrong way to go about the policy if, for example, his infrastructure investment locked us into greater use of carbon rather than reduced use.

Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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The hon. Lady makes an important point. Of course, the Bill will not discriminate between projects on policy grounds. We have set out some criteria, which I shall come to, but there are many energy projects—particularly in the renewables field—that are being brought forward in this country as a result of that framework and the policies that have followed from it. Some of those projects may well fall into the category that needs the support from the guarantees that the Bill will provide. In that sense, the Bill should give us an extra tool to ensure that the renewables investment that we need can go forward in a timely fashion, which I hope she would welcome.

The House will know that the Treasury already has wide powers under common law, not limited by statute, to issue guarantees, make loans and give other financial assistance in support of infrastructure. In some cases, Secretaries of State have statutory powers to support infrastructure; in others, they would need to rely on common law powers. However, many Members will also know that there is a long-standing convention, dating back to 1932, that the Government should not rest significant and regular expenditure under common law powers on the sole authority of general supply legislation. Accordingly, in order to offer the support that we want to see, the Government need Parliament’s authority to incur expenditure in connection with agreements to provide financial assistance and to pay out on liabilities, should they be called on to do so. Today we seek authority for the Treasury, or the Secretary of State where appropriate, to incur up to £50 billion of expenditure in connection with giving financial assistance to infrastructure across the UK.

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Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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The hon. Gentleman has cited the airport that I use most, apart from Inverness airport, because it services Inverness. I probably use it a couple of times a week. I have observed the investment programme, and it is certainly improving the facility. We hope that that improvement will continue.

Joan Walley Portrait Joan Walley
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I am grateful to the Minister for giving way a second time. Does he agree that it is important for the Bill to provide for proper environmental impact assessments? Given that consultation is taking place in the House now that the Government have got rid of the regional spatial strategies, there is a requirement for us to ensure that environmental impact assessments take place. Will the Minister explain how that is linked with the requirement in clause 3?

Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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I think it important for legislation to contain provision for appropriate environmental impact assessments, but this Bill is not the proper place for such a provision. Such assessments will have already taken place as part of the consenting process. As I have said, the Government will offer guarantees only to projects that can get under way in less than 12 months and have secured the relevant consents.

Finance (No. 3) Bill

Debate between Joan Walley and Danny Alexander
Tuesday 26th April 2011

(13 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Joan Walley Portrait Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)
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Does the right hon. Gentleman accept, however, that there is concern about the amount of hidden subsidy for the nuclear industry in the Finance Bill, and given the coalition agreement that there is to be no subsidy for nuclear power, does he share my concern on behalf of manufacturers, particularly in my constituency, that if there is any windfall tax it should be directed to promoting energy and waste-resource efficiency in terms of manufacturing? Is there not a complete mismatch here?

Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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I understand the concern, and I know that it has been expressed by a number of lobby groups, although I have to say that I think it has been grossly exaggerated. The purpose of the carbon price floor is to ensure a stronger, and strengthening, market over future years for investment in low-carbon energy. It will deliver a genuine incentive for green and renewable energies to be developed and invested in. Meeting the carbon reduction targets, which I think all Members support, will require several tens, or even hundreds, of billions of pounds of new investment in renewable and other energy sources, and I think that introducing a carbon price floor is exactly the right mechanism to achieve that.

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Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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I recognise the force of the hon. Gentleman’s concerns, and I have great respect for the detailed way in which he puts them forward, which I have learned about through the relationship we have had as a result of his role as Finance Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly Government. On this point however, I have to say that I think he is wrong. I hope that the carbon price floor will, alongside other measures, encourage investment in low-carbon power generation, including in Northern Ireland. That is what we are seeking to achieve through this mechanism. I think he also referred to energy-intensive industries, and we have announced that the climate change agreements, which are to the benefit of such industries, are to be rolled forward for another phase and that the relief given through those agreements is to be significantly increased. I hope that will ensure that such energy-intensive industries will be able to make the transition to lower, or different, energy use in a way that does not have the economic effects he describes.

Joan Walley Portrait Joan Walley
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Given what the right hon. Gentleman has just said about the importance of investment, does he agree that the Budget should actually be giving the advantage to energy efficiency? Because of the delays in developing the green investment bank, are there not now real concerns about where we are going to get the resource efficiency from?

Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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I agree that energy efficiency is important, of course. That is precisely why the Department of Energy and Climate Change has been working so hard to bring forward the green deal scheme, which will start next year. It is designed precisely to give additional encouragement and incentive, and to provide a mechanism for people to engage in the sort of action on domestic energy efficiency in which they have not previously engaged over the years, which I hope the hon. Lady agrees is very important. Also, there are not delays in respect of the green investment bank. Quite the contrary; we announced in the Budget both a trebling of the amount of public money going into the bank, partly through asset sales, and that it will start its operations in September next year, thereby providing yet another strand to the additional investment we all want to see in green energy.

The measure I have been discussing will make us the first country in the world to introduce a carbon price floor for the power industry. It will help to provide an incentive for the billions of pounds of investment in cleaner sources of energy that this country needs, so ensuring we are on course to meet our carbon reduction targets. We have also preserved the link between the climate change levy and prices, through clause 23, to act as a further incentive to low-carbon investment.

The Bill will also help to address other important social issues. The new duty on high-strength beers in clause 15 will help to tackle problem drinking, increasing the cost of a typical can of high-strength lager by 25p. That is coupled with a reduction in the duty on lower-strength beers to help encourage the consumption of alcohol in a more responsible way.