The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the UK plans to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Mr Nick Hurd
The UK’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and to climate action is firm. We remain committed to ratifying the Paris Agreement, and initiating domestic procedures for this, as soon as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what correspondence she has received from legal counsel for the independent investigation into child sexual abuse relating to the conduct of (a) Dame Lowell Goddard and (b) Ben Emmerson QC between the date of their appointment to the inquiry and the dates of their departure.
Sarah Newton
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was established under the Inquiries Act 2005 on 12 March 2015. Dame Lowell resigned as chair of the Inquiry on 4 August 2016. Ben Emmerson QC resigned as counsel to the Inquiry on 29 September 2016.
The Home Secretary has received no correspondence from Counsel to the Inquiry relating to the conduct of either Dame Lowell or Mr Emmerson between the dates of their appointment to the Inquiry and the dates of their departure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2015-12-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visits her Department has made to Wigan in 2015 to date.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office meets regularly with local councils throughout the year on a number of different matters. A central record of all the meetings that are held is not maintained.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effects of recent changes in the value of the pound on the cost to the UK of electricity and gas imports.
Jesse Norman
The Department has not made an assessment of the recent changes in the value of the pound on cost to the UK of electricity and gas imports.
Exchange rates are only one of the factors which influence the cost of electricity and gas imports.
Market gas prices are also impacted by the availability and cost of a range of gas supplies, both regional and global, infrastructure constraints and global and regional demand. The cost of importing electricity to the UK through its interconnectors with other European countries is also influenced by the electricity generation mix in Europe and gas, coal and carbon prices and level of electricity demand in the UK and other European countries.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when (a) she and (b) her Department’s officials have met John O’Brien, Secretary of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse since his appointment to that position.
Sarah Newton
The Home Secretary has not met the Secretary to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Home Office officials meet regularly with the Secretary to the Inquiry as part of the sponsorship responsibilities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2015-12-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by what date her Department has instructed SERCO to no longer house asylum seekers in hotels.
James Brokenshire
The use of hotels is permitted under the terms of the COMPASS contract as a contingency accommodation when usual accommodation cannot meet demand. The Home Office is clear that this is only ever acceptable in an emergency and providers must move clients into suitable accommodation quickly. No instruction has been given to Serco to cease use of hotels, however we and the housing providers are pursuing all options to reduce hotel use and put in place alternative contingency options.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent representations the Government has received from (a) the Chinese government and (b) Chinese energy companies on proposals to build new nuclear power stations in the UK.
Jesse Norman
The Department regularly engages with the Chinese government and with CGN about their proposed partnership with EDF in UK new nuclear build – as we do with all developers with proposals for new nuclear power stations. A record of ministerial engagement with external stakeholders is published on a quarterly basis, and can be found at
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date she first became aware that allegations of racism had been made against Dame Lowell Goddard in her capacity as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse; and who made her aware of those allegations.
Sarah Newton
No such allegations have ever been raised with the Home Secretary.
The speech made by Lisa Nandy, the Labour MP for Wigan, in the House of Commons on 8 December 2022.
I have one question for the Secretary of State: what on earth is he thinking? The decision to greenlight the reopening of the Woodhouse colliery is bad policy and bad politics. It is the latest in a string of absurd decisions from a Government in chaos, causing chaos in this Chamber and out there in the country. They are in office but not in power.
This mine will produce coking coal used for steel, not for electricity generation. So, as the Secretary of State has had to admit today, the claim it helps to safeguard our energy security is nonsense, but it gets worse. The two big steel producers, Tata and British Steel, are phasing out this coal in favour of lower-carbon production methods. By the mid-2030s, at best, the UK will use less than 10% of the mine’s output. Across the world, demand for coking coal is projected to fall off a cliff, by 88%, by 2050.
People in Cumbria deserve a long-term future, with lasting, well-paid jobs that power us through the next century. Instead, they are saddled with a weak, short-sighted and unambitious Government who, only two months ago, rejected a plan to bring new nuclear to Cumbria, which would have created not 500 short-term jobs but 10,000 jobs for the long term.
The right hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) is supposed to be the Secretary of State for Levelling Up. The Tories were once the party of conservation, and now they are the party of environmental vandalism. He can fiddle the figures all he likes, but the reality is that this mine is projected to increase emissions by 0.4 million tonnes a year, according to his own advisers. That is equivalent to putting 200,000 more cars on the road every single year.
This decision flies in the face of Britain’s net zero objectives, contradicts the aims of the UK’s COP26 presidency and undermines the 2019 Conservative manifesto. This is chaos. Successive Secretaries of State are contradicting each other and the Government’s independent adviser on climate change condemned the decision as “indefensible” even as the Secretary of State stands here trying to defend it.
The Secretary of State told us that coal has no part to play in future power generation. He cannot even agree with himself. No leadership abroad. No leadership at home. Unable to lead even in his own party. I hope he will at least reassure the House today that this bizarre decision, which he cannot even defend, was not part of a deal to buy off Back Benchers after his U-turn earlier this week on onshore wind.
People in Britain deserve better. Right across the country, communities such as mine in Wigan and across Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria are proud of our mining heritage and of the contribution we made to this country, but we want a Government who look forward and match our ambition so that, through clean energy, our young people can power us through the next century like their parents and grandparents powered us through the last. Where is the ambition? Where is the leadership? Where is the government?
The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Michael Gove)
Mr Speaker, thank you for your ruling earlier. I apologise to you and to the House. No discourtesy was intended. I appreciate the importance of maintaining the courtesies of the House, particularly with regard to statements.
As I mentioned earlier, the context of this statement is a quasi-judicial process on a planning application. I always admire the rhetoric of the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy), and she asks, “Where is the ambition? Where is the leadership?” I think we all know where the ambition and the leadership is: it is sitting right across from me.
The hon. Lady will have her own views on future demand for coking coal, but I fear she elides the difference between coking coal used for metallurgical purposes and coal used for energy generation purposes. The inspector’s report makes it clear that coking coal is used not for energy purposes but purely for metallurgical purposes, for the manufacture of steel. Of course, we will need steel for decades to come, including in the renewables sector. How else will we ensure that we supply all the materials necessary for onshore wind and other renewable energy without using steel? If she or anybody else in the House has an answer, I and millions of scientists would love to hear it.
It is important to look at the inspector’s report, as I have in detail. The inspector makes it clear on page 239, in paragraph 21.37, that in all the scenarios and forecasts presented to him there was
“continued demand for coking coal for a number of decades.”
He also made it clear that, at the moment, imports of coking coal come from Australia, the USA and Russia. As I pointed out in the statement, and as the inspector makes clear, no evidence has been provided to suggest that any other metallurgical coal mine in the world aspires to be net zero in the way the Whitehaven development does. Again, the inspector makes it clear that the
“development would to some extent support the transition to a low carbon future as a consequence of the provision of a currently needed resource from a mine that aspires to be net zero.”
The European Commission is clear that coking coal is a critical part of steel and that steel is necessary to the future of Europe. We recognise that the demand for this coking coal, both in the UK and in Europe, is better supplied from a net zero mine than from other alternatives. As the inspector makes clear, this decision will also be responsible for high-skilled, high-value jobs in Cumbria, alongside other jobs in the supply chain elsewhere, and that is without prejudice to the other investment that the Government are making in clean green energy sources alongside it.
The inspector’s report is clear and, in responding to the questions from the hon. Member for Wigan, I urge every Member of the House to read the inspector’s report in full, alongside my decision letter. Those 350 pages lay out the evidence. They present the arguments for and against the decision. The inspector, an independent planning expert, has concluded that this development should go ahead and I agree with him.