Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Mary Glindon and Chris McDonald(1 week, 1 day ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mary Glindon (Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Chris McDonald)
After a lot of hullabaloo about the oil and gas industry, we now get to turn to the areas where we are doubling down—namely, on our vast natural resource in clean energy industries and offshore wind, where we managed to attract £90 billion-worth of private sector investment in 2024, in collaboration with the sector councils. Whereas the Conservative Government were happy for those associated jobs to be in Denmark and the Netherlands, we are reindustrialising Blyth, the Tyne and the Tees.
Mary Glindon
Allocation round 7 was a resounding vote of confidence from developers, and our supply chains will welcome that. At a roundtable I hosted last year, the Secretary of State set out the innovative principles behind the clean industry bonus. However, competing against lower-cost regions, such as the middle east, remains a pressing concern for fabricators in the future. Will the Minister ensure that the CIB is as robust and creative as possible so that developers buy from British yards?
Chris McDonald
My hon. Friend is right that the allocation round was incredibly successful. Of course, the Conservatives wanted to cancel it, given their opposition to clean industry jobs across the UK. In the north-east, where my hon. Friend is from, we are forecasting an increase of 20,000 jobs. I know that the Smulders yard in her constituency will seek to benefit from that because, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, it matters to this Government where things are made. We want those supply chain jobs here in the UK—jobs the Reform party would take away from constituents like hers and mine, with its anti-net zero ideology.