15:32 Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

Hinkley Point C would supply a stable source of low-carbon, climate-friendly power to nearly 6 million homes—nearly twice the number of homes in London—and would supply 7% of the United Kingdom’s electricity by 2025. It would reduce emissions by the equivalent of about 5% of the UK’s annual carbon dioxide emissions from energy supply compared with unabated gas-fired generation. It would increase energy security and resilience from a safe, reliable, home-grown source of electricity, reducing electricity bills by about 10% compared with a non-nuclear future. With clean-up costs included from the outset, we would be avoiding the mistakes of the past. This is good news for jobs, good news for the economy, good news for bill-payers, good news for energy security, and good news for the environment.

We have a huge challenge ahead of us. With many old and dirty power stations closing down over the next decade, the capital investment required to replace that electricity generating capacity is around £110 billion between now and 2020, the largest infrastructure programme in Government. This agreement is a vote of confidence in the measures this Government are putting in place to attract investment into the system, to make the market work, and to ensure we keep the lights on. We need to decarbonise our electricity sector to meet our emissions targets and our responsibilities to the next generation, and we need a revolution in home-grown energy generation to protect bill-payers from price rises caused by volatile world gas markets.

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