Security of Supply

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:21 pm on 12 January 2006.

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Photo of Eric Illsley Eric Illsley Labour, Barnsley Central 4:21, 12 January 2006

I greatly welcome the debate but it is a pity that we have been given only three hours for it, approximately an hour and 40 minutes of which will be taken up by Front Benchers, given the length of time that they have already taken and the winding-up speeches later. It is a shame that we get such a short debate on an issue that is so important.

The debate is timely. Although I listened carefully to the Secretary of State's comments on our current energy supplies and our security, we read newspaper articles that refer to the "crisis" in our electricity and gas power supplies. Although we have probably not yet reached the crisis, given the long lead-in times for any new development—nuclear, gas, coal or anything else—we must start making decisions now and not wait any longer while establishing reviews, investigations and consultations about how to progress.

The Secretary of State pointed out that we face several problems with our existing energy supply. We are a net gas importer; our nuclear plants are ageing; our oil supplies in the North sea are expiring; our coal mines have been neglected, ignored, mothballed or simply closed; renewable sources have not come on stream as fast as they should; and perhaps we rely too much simply on windmills. While all that is happening, demand, which we have to meet, increases relentlessly year after year.

I am surprised that the Government have decided on yet another review, because the previous one took place only in 2003. The White Paper that was produced then states:

"By 2020 we could be dependent on imported energy for three-quarters of our total primary energy needs . . . we may become potentially more vulnerable to price fluctuations and interruptions to supply caused by regulatory failures, political instability or conflict in other parts of the world".

What more do we need to know? Those words were in a White Paper three years ago. How many times do we have to say it? We need to take some action now.

I went to the Library this morning and dug out a list of the Energy Committee's reports between 1987 and 1992. It is depressing that Energy Committee reports 16 years ago have the same titles as Trade and Industry Committee reports now. The reports then, as now, were on nuclear power, gas, renewables, clean coal technology and so on. We have known about the problems for a long time and we need to take action to deal with them now.

We have a diverse selection of fuel sources, and every commentator tells us that security of supply will be achieved through that diversity, by ensuring that we have several energy sources. However, each source has its own problems. The problem with nuclear power is its ageing reactors and the cost of dealing with the existing nuclear waste, which is estimated at £56 billion. What are we to do with that waste? We do not even know how to get rid of it yet, and we are probably talking about tripling the amount that we produce if the proposed new stations go ahead. We do not know what to do with the nuclear waste that we already have.