Minister of State for Science, Technology, Research and Innovation George Freeman responds to an Opposition Day debate on Britain’s industrial future.

The Minister of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (George Freeman)

It is a great pleasure to serve in this debate and to have my first outing at the Dispatch Box as the returned Minister for science research, innovation and technology at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy—a name written proudly on the side of the building—in order to refute the litany of woe and failure that those on the Opposition Benches love to reel out, to paint a picture of a British economy that the businesses around this country would recognise and understand, and to set out in some detail the plans we have to support not only the industries of today, but the industries of tomorrow, for which this country is leading in creating the framework globally.

I look forward to a good debate, not least about the depression of the Opposition’s motion, which says very little about their own positive plans to develop an industrial sector for the 21st century, but simply looks to print a cheap leaflet for distribution on the doorstep. We can do better than that, and I hope that we will this afternoon.

As Minister for science, research and innovation in technology, my mission is to make the strategic shift in this country’s economy. The Labour party, in its long period in office, seemed to delight in—I remember the “Deputy Prime Minister” saying he was profoundly relaxed—all the deregulation in the City, the move to a service economy and deindustrialisation. This Government are absolutely committed to taking the crash of 2007-8 under the Labour Government, the difficult fiscal situation afterwards, the pandemic and the emergency in Ukraine as the wake-up call that they are to invest more in our industries of tomorrow and today, to develop our industrial resilience, to support the R&D for tomorrow’s sectors, and to support our leadership in net zero. I would like to think that the Labour party would celebrate that. The truth is that British industry is leading the way in net zero in this country, and that is something we should be proud of. I will come to the detail of that in due course.

Grahame Morris (Easington) (Lab)

Will the Minister give way?

George Freeman 

I will make some progress in my opening remarks and then I will give way to the hon. Gentleman.

In my specific role and portfolio, my job is to support the industries of tomorrow. In life sciences, I set out with the then Minister the first 10-year life science strategy in this country. We launched the genomics programme, NHS digital and accelerated access, and we laid a lot of the foundations for this country’s success in the pandemic. Last year, we launched a 10-year space strategy for commercial leadership in the space sector, and we are now in the process of implementing it.

We have set out a 10-year plan for fusion, and we are investing, through the UK Atomic Energy Authority, in the ground-breaking technology at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. We announced this summer that we are moving that to Nottinghamshire and creating the world’s first industrial deployment of fusion technology at commercial scale over the next 10 to 15 years.

We are setting out a quantum strategy. On Friday, I was with the quantum industry, which is applauding us; we are No. 1 in Europe in the quantum industry and investment. That is a partnership between big companies—Toshiba, BT, BAE Systems and many others—and our very fertile ecosystem of small companies and universities. Similarly, I was proud, as the then Minister, to launch the UK’s first industrial strategy for agri-tech.

Forgive me, then, if I do not take any lectures from the Labour party on the lack of an industrial strategy. Far from it, the former Member for Hartlepool and “Deputy Prime Minister” paid tribute to the Conservative party, to me, the then Chancellor and the then Minister, David Willets—who is now in the other place—for leading the thinking on a modern industrial strategy for a modern economy.

In truth, in the last few years that work has inevitably been interrupted, first by the pandemic—I am proud that the Conservative party put in £400 billion of business support for industry—and secondly by Ukraine, which has been a wake-up call to the world about the resilience of industrial supply chains. We have worked head and shoulders in the last year to beef up those industrial supply chains to protect British industry from that vulnerability, and we continue to do so.

Grahame Morris 

rose—

Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)

rose—

George Freeman 

Let me finish this point.

Thirdly, the tightening of the global energy markets has hit many energy-intensive industries hard. We have announced £25 billion of support for the next six months. That is far from the doom and gloom of the motion, which, for anyone who reads it, paints a picture of this Government having no strategy or policy for industry, which is complete rubbish.

Grahame Morris 

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way on doom and gloom. There was a mention earlier of fleet solid support ships, which we on this side of the House have argued for many years should be built here for strategic reasons, with steel manufactured here.

May I ask about rail and the home of the railways in the north-east? In my constituency, Vivarail—a world-beating, self-charging all-electric train manufacturer—is starved of Government support and investment. It could be a beacon for the future, so why is it not on the Minister’s list of shining examples?

George Freeman 

The reason it was not on the list is that I was listing all the industries of tomorrow. I will come to the specific points he makes. The biggest customer for steel in this country is our rail sector, and we are proud that the UK rail industry, into which we are pouring an unprecedented level of investment, is a major user of British steel. I will come to the steel industry in a moment.

The motion paints a picture of doom and gloom and the collapse of manufacturing. It is time to put that stale old Labour trope to bed. The UK is still the ninth biggest manufacturing country in the world. Manufacturing this year contributed £205 billion in gross value added to the UK economy. We are the fourth largest manufacturing economy in Europe, supporting almost 2.5 million jobs.

Under the last Labour Government, manufacturing jobs had been haemorrhaging. We stopped that in 2010 and, through major investment of the sort that I just set out, we have turned around this country’s manufacturing sector, which is now much more advanced. Again, I am surprised that Labour Members are not congratulating us on that. Manufacturing jobs were collapsing in this country, but 84% of manufacturing now takes place throughout the country, outside London, not just in the old industrial belt, but in the space economy in Cornwall and in Glasgow—I thought that Scottish National party Members would cheer that. There is the north Wales energy corridor, the south Wales compound semiconductor cluster and the Warwick robotics cluster. Our manufacturing economy is highly advanced, highly competitive and decentralised.

Grahame Morris 

rose—

George Freeman 

I will come to steel, shipbuilding and automotive shortly. I had not mentioned the hon. Gentleman’s rail point because I was highlighting the industries of tomorrow.

Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)

Does the Minister know how many tonnes of British steel there are in a single wind turbine, onshore or offshore, in our country?

George Freeman 

I do not have that figure at my fingertips, but I have a funny feeling that the hon. Gentleman does. The Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake) will respond on that later.

Paul Howell (Sedgefield) (Con)

The Minister has talked about the space and science-led businesses around the country. On the north-east, in response to the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris), we should not forget the tremendous things that are happening at NETPark in Sedgefield.

George Freeman 

Indeed, fantastic things are happening at NETPark. One would think that the Labour party, which dominated County Durham politics for decades and seemed to indulge in the poverty up there, would celebrate the phenomenal turnaround in the north-east. It is one of our leading manufacturing regions. NETPark is home to Kromek and Newcastle is home to QuantuMDX. That is a great story of British manufacturing driving an advanced economy in the areas that were blighted by painful deindustrialisation. I am proud that the Conservative party is in the vanguard of that.

Alex Cunningham 

There is no doubt that we have new manufacturing to celebrate in the north-east, but Teesside’s steel industry is a shadow of its former self. It has a few hundred jobs, instead of the many thousands that existed a few years ago, before the Government abandoned us. Does the Minister agree that we should invest in Teesside steel now and use its product for the new industry jobs that we are promised?

George Freeman 

That brings me to steel, and the hon. Gentleman makes an important point. There has been real pressure on the steel industry in the past 15 to 20 years. Global economic conditions are hugely challenging for all domestic steel sectors. There has been massive overcapacity, unfair overseas subsidies and steel dumping. The real issue is that global steel production has more than doubled since 1995 and China is by far the biggest contributor to that growth. In 1995, China accounted for 13% of the world’s steel production. By 2019, that had risen to 53%. There has been a phenomenal change in the global steel market.

Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)

I have been in this place 10 years today and I have worked with my local steel company since I was first elected. It has consistently raised the same issues with me: competitive electricity prices for the green steel it produces and ensuring that the industries of the future, particularly green industries, use UK steel. What exactly have the Government done to ensure that prices are competitive and that UK steel is used in those green industries? They have not done enough.

George Freeman 

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about the challenge. We have done a lot—let me share that with him.

Stephen Doughty 

On the specific point.

George Freeman 

I will deal with the specific point. Our ongoing support for the steel industry this year includes more than £800 million in relief for electricity costs, in addition to the energy bills relief scheme. The sector can apply for help with all sorts of energy efficiency, with decarbonisation and low-carbon infrastructure. More than £1 billion is available in competitive funding for the industry in that sector alone.

Several hon. Members rose—

George Freeman 

Let me just deal with this point.

We are investing more than £600 billion to transform our country’s infrastructure—roads, rail, broadband and more—and we plan to procure 8.5 million tonnes of steel as part of that over the next decade; the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) touched on procurement. We published an updated steel pipeline in June 2020, to help the industry plan ahead. The value of UK steel procured by the Government for major public projects in 2021, which I checked before coming to the debate, was £268 million—an increase of £160 million from the previous year. The steel procurement taskforce, which we set up as a joint working group between Government and the steel industry, published seven recommendations in February this year, and those are being implemented through updating the Cabinet Office procurement policy note. As the hon. Member will see—he asked a good question—we are taking serious steps on procurement.

In 2021, the Secretary of State for Defence acquired specialist steel producer Sheffield Forgemasters, with £400 million of investment over the next 10 years, and Sheffield Forgemasters is working with other companies, including Rolls-Royce and the Canadian company General Fusion, on the development of nuclear power generation. In March this year, we successfully secured an expansive removal of US section 232 tariffs on UK steel and aluminium products, which means that UK steel and aluminium exports to the US can return to levels not seen since before 2018. We have also extended our steel safeguard measures for a further two years. I simply do not accept, and I do not think anyone listening to the debate would say, that the Government have done nothing and are doing nothing on procurement. It is simply not true.

Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. I have heard what he has to say, but what does he say to the people of Teesside about his Government’s inaction in 2015? The Italian Government intervened at the Ilva plant in Taranto and came to the rescue of 25,000 workers. The French did the same in Florange, but this Government did absolutely nothing to protect our core industries at Redcar—and we have not forgotten it.

George Freeman 

I would point out that last week, Green Lithium announced the UK’s first large-scale merchant lithium refinery and the first such refinery in Europe, to be built in Teesport, supported by the automotive transformation fund.

John Penrose 

I want to ask the Minister the same question that I asked the hon. Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson) about a potential solution to the problems of high electricity costs faced by energy-intensive industries such as steel, which we have been hearing about from Opposition Members. Would a carbon border adjustment mechanism, which the Government have already consulted on and committed to in principle, help to level the playing field between British energy costs and those abroad, therefore making British heavy industry—particularly energy-intensive industries—far more competitive on the international stage?

George Freeman 

My hon. Friend, as ever, makes a very interesting policy observation; as Minister for science, I will not accept it at the Dispatch Box, but I will raise it with the Ministers for industry and for energy.

Alan Brown 

The Minister mentioned nuclear power. He heard what I said about costs earlier, but it is also reported that the Government are taking a 20% share in Sizewell C. Does that mean the Government are going to borrow £5 billion or £6 billion to pay for their 20% share of Sizewell C?

George Freeman 

How interesting to hear the SNP take issue with—[Interruption.] The hon. Member asked the question, so I will answer it. We are determined to make sure that, unlike parties on the Opposition Benches, we invest properly in new nuclear in this country, so that we have a resilient, clean and secure energy system. If that means an active industrial strategy to ensure we are able to do it, we are doing it. It would be nice to hear the SNP Government in Scotland take a similar approach to their future and to nuclear in this country, which is vital for the next few years as we get through this global tightening in energy.

Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP)

Will the Minister give way?

George Freeman 

No, I shall make some progress on this point about the automotive sector, which is also mentioned in the motion. The UK’s auto sector is hugely competitive globally. It is export-focused and has a very strong research and development base. In the last 20 to 30 years, it has transformed from what it was in the 1970s to a highly competitive and technologically advanced R&D-based sector. It is also in the vanguard of the transition to net zero, and the UK is well placed to seize those opportunities because of the Government’s efforts, as we are pursuing an active industrial strategy for net zero in industry.

The automotive-related manufacturing sector is worth £58 billion to the economy and typically invests around £3 billion each year in R&D—£3 billion in R&D from the sector alone. There are 155,000 people employed in automotive manufacturing in the UK in 2021. That is 6% of total UK manufacturing. [Interruption.] Opposition Members may laugh about the success of the British automotive sector, but this is a tribute to business and industry adaptability and the Government’s partnership in setting out a framework for the net zero transition.

Decarbonising transport is already starting to create thousands of jobs in green industries. The production of net zero road transport vehicles is on track to support the development of 72,000 jobs worth up to £9 billion to the economy. The Government have proven loud and clear that we can deliver a green transition and growth—something that all Opposition parties bitterly insisted was not possible.

Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)

The Minister talks about the decarbonisation of transport. Of the 4,000 buses that the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), promised nearly three years ago, how many are currently on the road in England?

George Freeman 

I will have to check the exact number. I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman did not mention Aberdeen’s leadership. With our support, Aberdeen is a hydrogen hub and there has been the creation of hydrogen hubs in Teesside, Harwich and all around the country. We are investing in another industry of tomorrow—green and blue hydrogen. His question is revealing. The motion suggests that the Government are doing nothing at all about hydrogen, but far from it. We are investing in the infrastructure for the hydrogen of tomorrow.

John Redwood 

Is there a danger that the UK could end diesel and petrol vehicle production too early compared with competitors—before we have a large electric car industry up and running? Would that not be bad news for our industry?

George Freeman 

My right hon. Friend makes an important point about ensuring that, as we lead on the delivery of the net zero automotive sector, we get the balance right, so that we are not unrealistically expecting consumers to make the transition too fast or, indeed, undermining our leadership in that sector. That is a fine balance that the Government are committed to striking. We are determined to lead the way in demonstrating green growth in pursuit of net zero, but we want to ensure that we capture the industrial leadership in that sector.

In the automotive sector, we have again made significant investments. We have invested more than £1.2 billion to support innovative projects through the Advanced Propulsion Centre. The projects that it has funded have helped to create more than 50,000 jobs and save 277 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Last month, we announced a record £200 million for the Faraday battery challenge. We have worked closely with Nissan and just announced a £1 billion investment to create a north of England electric vehicle hub in Sunderland that will safeguard 6,500 jobs. There have been investments of £227 million in Ford in Halewood, more than £100 million in Stellantis at the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port, and £2.5 billion in Bentley—those are major investments from an industry that is growing in this country with Government support. It would have been nice to hear the Opposition at least pay tribute to some of that success.

In the EV supply chain, we are actively investing in pursuit of our industrial strategy for green growth. The active travel fund has supported that £1 billion electric vehicle hub. We have also supported Pensana’s £145 million investment in East Yorkshire. Through the ATF, we recently supported a £60 million investment to develop hydrogen technologies with Johnson Matthey. Far from the Government abandoning our commitment to industry, we are doubling down on our commitment to help the existing industries of today to make the transition, and to support the industries of tomorrow.

The shipbuilding industry in this country, which Opposition Members suggest has been decimated, actually employs 42,500 people and is worth £2.8 billion. It is a major sector. Naval orders through the Government remain an important driver of its prosperity. In 2020, the Ministry of Defence spent £3.8 billion on shipbuilding and repair, which directly supported 22,000 jobs around the economy. Over the last decade, we have seen once great names in shipbuilding, such as Harland & Wolff, struggle, which puts that heritage at risk. Under the ownership of InfraStrata, however, Harland & Wolff is now strong again; that resurgence is part of a general trend of global consolidation in the industry.

We have seen how the symbiosis between MOD, naval and commercial buildings brings improved competitiveness, as businesses such as Cammell Laird deliver large commercial vessels alongside the Royal Fleet Auxiliary commitments. I am proud, as the Minister for Science, that the royal research ship Sir David Attenborough is one of the ships that has been built of British steel. The commissioning and delivery of the new aircraft carriers has been a massive shot in the arm. At the same time, we have seen big advances in key technologies, such as aluminium hull design and the application of robots for automated welding. That programme is also driving technological leadership. In 2019, ship boat repair maintenance was worth £2.6 billion to the economy.

I do not think it is fair to suggest, as the motion does, that this Government have neither an interest in industry nor a policy for industry, and that we are abandoning industry—far from it. Not only are we helping our key industries deal with massive global challenges—the pandemic and the energy crisis—but we are actively pursuing an industrial strategy for the industries of tomorrow, and that is actively supporting clusters all around the country to drive levelling up and opportunity. It would be nice to hear the Opposition parties at least pay some tribute to the success of that private-public partnership and to the success and resilience of British industry.

Hansard

George Freeman, Minister for Science, Technology, Research and Innovation, responds to a debate on local consent for fracking that was tabled before the Prime Minister reinstated the moratorium on fracking.

The Minister of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (George Freeman)

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Paisley, in the absence of the Minister for Climate, my right hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart), who is dealing with these very issues at COP27 today. I congratulate the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan); she is a very exciting new Member of Parliament, and she has done well today in bringing this issue to the attention of the House.

As somebody who was as concerned as everyone else here that the very short-lived Administration that took office in September flirted with the idea of lifting the 2019 Conservative moratorium on fracking, I am delighted to say that that policy has very clearly been reversed by the Prime Minister. To say that this horse has bolted is to liken Shergar to a beach pony; the issue is well and truly put to bed. I will deal with the points that hon. Members have made, but it gives me great pleasure to make it very clear that this Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the Secretary of State, and the Minister for Climate—in fact, this whole Government—have returned to our position in the 2019 manifesto, which was an effective moratorium on fracking.

Furthermore—this may go some way towards answering the point made by the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy)—Ministers are taking a presumption against issuing any further hydraulic fracking consents. I accept that for a month or two, all sorts of horses were running wild around the beach, but the position is absolutely clear. For those listening, and for the 18,000 people who signed the petition, let me be very clear: the Government are not about to open up the UK fracking market. We are back to the position that we set out in 2019.

I thank those who have spoken today. It is a great pleasure to see the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon); I know I am in the right room when I see him here, assiduous as ever. I also thank the hon. Members for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell), for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) and for Bristol East. I will deal with the points that have been made and with the broader context in which we need to view this issue. I will say something about the energy supply market, something about gas and something about local consent. Members have raised some important points about the role and the mechanisms of local consent in these sectors, in relation not only to gas but to all critical national infrastructure and other renewables.

Let me start by setting the scene. As someone who has been in this House for 12 years and has been watching it for about 30, I think it is fair to say—I can see that colleagues around the House feel the same way—that, as a country, for decades we have rather taken energy for granted. Until about 15 years ago we presumed it was something that would always be there, very cheaply, at the flick of a switch, and we did not have to worry too much about it. That position has changed, rather belatedly but dramatically, in the last 15 years. I pay tribute to the last climate change Minister in the Labour Government before 2010, who started a profound acceleration of our leadership on net zero. I am proud that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition between 2010 and 2015, and then the Conservative Government, have taken that forward. Our leadership on net zero has come on leaps and bounds.

The scale of that success bears repeating. Since 1990, we have managed to grow the economy by about 40% and the net zero sector by around 70%. We have managed to demonstrate that it is possible to have green growth. There has been extraordinary progress. I accept, as I think everyone does, that as a country we were late to this. However, low-carbon electricity now gives us around half of our total generation, we have installed 99% of our solar capacity since 2010, the onshore wind industry is already generating over 14 GW and is happily accepted around the country—onshore wind is cheap—and we have put £30 billion of domestic investment into the green industrial revolution. Those are figures that, even 15 years ago, one might have been surprised to see. This country is genuinely leading in making the big transitional investments to move to net zero.

Of course, in the last 18 months, the pandemic and the appalling situation in Ukraine have triggered a cost of living crisis and, in particular, a cost of energy crisis globally. That has reminded us of the importance of having resilient supply chains and ensuring that we are not vulnerable to hostile actors internationally, or to supply chains in which we can be held to ransom.

Wera Hobhouse 

The Minister talks about the UK’s leadership in renewables, which is positive. Should there not be a Government ambition to be an exporter of renewable energy, since we have so many opportunities to share that with Europe? Is that not a brilliant opportunity when we are talking about global Britain and its leadership in renewables?

George Freeman 

The hon. Lady makes an excellent point. Indeed, that is why the former Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), used to refer to the southern North sea as the Saudi Arabia of wind energy. That is precisely our ambition. First, we need to ensure that we can meet our own domestic energy market needs.

The hon. Member for Bath makes a crucial point for me very well, which is that we are in a global market and global energy demand over the next 20, 30 and 40 years will rise. It is not just a question of moving our existing energy demands to renewable supplies, vital though that is; it is also about developing the renewables of the future and contributing globally. As Minister for science, research, technology and innovation, I can say that we are investing heavily in small nuclear, in fusion, in marine and in geothermal, because we see a huge opportunity for the UK to be in the vanguard of the renewables and clean energies of tomorrow.

Jim Shannon 

I thank the Minister for his detailed, helpful and comprehensive response. I read in the paper over the weekend about some of the innovation across the world on which we can interact with others. I understand that Morocco has an abundance of green energy, and, if the press are correct, that discussions are taking place between the UK Government and the Moroccan Government to export that green energy to the United Kingdom by an undersea channel. Is the Minister aware of that and if he is, could he elaborate on it?

George Freeman 

The hon. Member has made an important point. I will not attempt to answer it because I am not the Minister for Climate, but I will flag it with him and ask that the hon. Member gets a proper answer.

As well as our groundbreaking leadership in the transition of our existing energy system to net zero supply, we are investing heavily in the technologies of tomorrow to ensure that we can be a global player in the great challenges we face. Agriculture and transport are the two biggest industries after energy that generate and use the most carbon and greenhouse gases, and we are hugely advanced in research and development in those sectors. I say that as a former Minister for future transport and for agritech. This country has a huge opportunity as part of the science superpower mission to generate solutions that we can export around the world, and I am proud of what we are doing.

Given the crisis in Ukraine and the extraordinary pressures on everybody this year when it comes to paying their energy bills, the Government made a huge commitment to cap those energy bills and provide support, but it is right that our customers—the constituents we serve, taxpayers, households and businesses—would expect any responsible Government to look at whether there are easily and quickly accessible supplies of clean gas in the UK that could be extracted in a sensible and environmentally satisfactory way. People would think it was daft and weird if we were not prepared even to look at doing so in such a context. But let me be clear: that cannot in any situation go against our own environmental commitments, the environmental advice we have received or, crucially, local consent. As others have said, the British Geological Survey has made it crystal clear that there is no evidence to suggest that fracking can be pursued in any way that would pass that test. Again, I am delighted to repeat how pleased I personally am that we—the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the Government—have made it clear that we are back to our 2019 effective moratorium.

Helen Morgan 

Given that the Government are happy to express their commitment to stopping fracking, would they be willing to put that into legislation so that we do not always have a shadow of doubt hanging over us that the issue might raise its ugly head again?

George Freeman 

I hear the hon. Member; she has made her point and put it on the record. I am slightly adverse to the idea that we put into legislation every single thing that we are not going to do. We would be here an awfully long time to reassure everyone. I am not sure that that is a sustainable way for Parliament to proceed. The Prime Minister made it clear through the written ministerial statement to the House, and the sector and community generally have understood that the idea mooted in September is now dead and buried, and we will not go back there.

I turn to the important point regarding local consent, which a number of colleagues have made. There is little I can say about pockets of local consent in particular areas. With regard to the situation in North Shropshire, in response to which the hon. Member for North Shropshire partly brought forward this debate, the licence for fracking that would potentially impact the Market Drayton and Whitchurch area is an indicative licence. No work has been done and no application for work has been received. In the light of the announcement of the return to the 2019 position, it is difficult to envisage any situation in which that licence could be of any use. I reassure her that we are not expecting any activity in that area.

We all—and the Government certainly—recognise that community support is important. We generally want planning to be something that is done through and with local communities, not to them. Some sort of balance is always required. Obviously, there is a huge difference between a loft extension and the siting of a huge piece of critical national infrastructure. However, a good developer will and should always engage with the local community and listen to real concerns.

I have seen consultations in my area where concerns have been expressed but have not been listened to or reflected in the proposals, and no change has been made to anything that was promoted. That often drives the view of sham consultations, in which people are not being heard. We need to be wary of assuming a one-size-fits-all approach would work for local support. Difficult though it is to see how this would take off, we have left open the possibility that if an area—north, south, south-west, Scotland or Northern Ireland—found itself sitting on an easy and geologically stable opportunity to exploit shale gas and came to the Government with strong local consent, strong environmental data and a strong business and environmental case, the Government would consider it. That is very different from us setting an ambition and encouraging this industry around the country.

My constituency is home to the first two major substations, connecting the first two offshore wind farms in the southern North sea. As the local constituency MP, I watched as the scheme promoter came forward with a proposal for a substation, which I naively thought 10 years ago was a thing the size of a shipping container that hums behind a yew bush, but this thing is the size of Wembley stadium and its proposed location was on top of a hill, so the whole of Norfolk could see this huge piece of industrial development. I was not against hosting the substation in Mid Norfolk, but through decent consultation with the company, we ended up siting it in low-lying ground, out of sight, with minimal light and visual impact.

For our thanks, we have had another one; we now have two next to each other in Mid Norfolk. It is critical infrastructure, although if we were better connecting all the offshore wind farms, we could reduce the need for individual substations and cabling all across the Norfolk and Suffolk coast. The Minister for Climate is looking into that, because it would support the infrastructure for trading out of the southern North sea. I have seen at first hand that communities are often not properly consulted. As other hon. Members have said, without in any way opening up the risk of community benefit creating an opportunity for some sort of inappropriate payments to buy consent, I believe it is important that when a village is hosting two vast pieces of national infrastructure, it might get a park bench or some swings or something from the developer, which is making a huge amount of money.

There is a difficult balance to strike, but we all know good consent and good consultation when we see it. We know when a company is listening and when a community has been properly heard. I do not think that has been the case often enough and I am delighted to have the chance to put that on record.

Kerry McCarthy 

I thank the Minister for giving way and engaging so much in the debate. There are question marks around where the Government are going with planning. I believe investment zones have been dropped, but I am not sure where we are on fast-tracking things, and bypassing planning permission and local consent. I will leave that for another day. What I want to ask him is this: I understand what he said about a hypothetical situation where fracking was proven to be safe, the local community wanted it and so on, but why is that not the case for onshore wind? If a local community would clearly benefit from onshore wind, why are they not allowed to have it?

George Freeman 

I do not want to steal the thunder of my ministerial colleague, my right hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness, who is looking at that issue right now. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have revealed that we are exposed on a number of our food and agricultural supply chains. We need to get the balance right between covering far too much of our agricultural land and equally making sure that where communities can carry industrial sites, we have the right incentives in place.

Jim Shannon 

We have had a number of debates in Westminster Hall on that very issue. Others who have spoken on that have said that key agricultural land needs to be retained for food production, and all the more so because of the food supply crisis across the world and the Ukraine war. With great respect, I believe there has been a consensus that highly productive agricultural land needs to be retained for that purpose alone.

George Freeman 

The hon. Member makes an important point, which I personally agree with and the Government are sensitive to. Again, our constituents would think it perverse if, at the very time when our exposure to international food supply and agricultural supply chains has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and the pandemic, we were then to decide to take out of productive capacity huge areas of agricultural land. Agriculture is a great British industry and the agritech sector is developing net zero technologies that allow us to do clean and green agriculture. We do not want to undermine that industry.

Wera Hobhouse 

The Minister is being generous in giving way. Is it not time that we busted some urban myths about solar panels and where they go? Most of the time they go on land that is not suitable for agricultural use other than, for example, sheep grazing. Is there not a myth about where we are putting these solar farms?

George Freeman 

I am not sure it is a myth; it is a mixed bag. There are areas where solar has been deployed very effectively, with happy sheep grazing around it and very little reduction in the productive capacity of land. I do not want to stray beyond my brief—I am not the Minister with responsibility for energy—but equally there are in my part of the world, in the east of England, proposals for huge, industrial-scale solar on good productive farmland. In the spirit of the question from the hon. Member for Strangford, I think a lot of people are worried about those proposals.

Kerry McCarthy 

I was asking about onshore wind, not the solar issue. With solar, there is the question of how the Government classify the best and most versatile—BMV—land. I totally agree with the hon. Member for Strangford that genuine BMV land should not be used for anything other than growing food, but I asked about onshore wind. Onshore wind does not always need to be put on farmland; there are lots of other potential sites.

George Freeman 

The hon. Lady makes a very important point. In some ways, the two are linked, because there are plenty of examples of deployment of solar and wind onshore that do not undermine the productive capacity of land or the attractiveness of the area. Opinion polls show that if they are properly deployed in the right areas with the right consultation and consent, onshore measures can be popular. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Climate is considering whether there is more we can do to tackle this short-term energy crisis in a way that does not create a problem for us downstream.

I should wrap up; I have strayed beyond my core brief as the Minister for science, research and innovation. Let me close by giving all those watching this debate around the country clear reassurance that the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the Government, the Secretary of State and the Minister for Climate have taken us back to the position set out in our 2019 manifesto, of which I was proud: an effective moratorium on fracking. We have made it clear that Ministers are not looking to open up fracking to support the crisis in our energy sector. I hope that message goes forth, loud and clear around the country, to those who were understandably worried back in September. They no longer need worry about that at least.

Hansard

All of our market towns face the familiar challenge of balancing new growth and development with the needs of the communities living in, and around, them – all the while preserving the unique rural heritage and way of life that we all cherish, and that makes our part of the world such an attractive place to visit.

That’s why, alongside my support for Breckland Council’s ‘Future Breckland Plan’ initiative (see more here), I was pleased to be involved in the latest ‘Future Breckland Board’ meeting this afternoon – hosted by Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen (Leader of Breckland Council) and Maxine O’Mahony (Chief Executive of Breckland Council).

This group is a collection of leaders from across Breckland’s public and private sectors, straddling a wide variety of industries and sections of society and already inspiring the work of other district councils across the country.

I am delighted to continue playing my part in the conversation and look forward to working with local councillors, businesses, community groups and many others as we all look to ensure Breckland remains a thriving and vibrant place to live and work in, as well as visit.

To see more on my work with the ‘Future Breckland Board’, please click here.

To see more on my work on ‘Planning and Protecting Our Rural Landscape and Heritage’, please click here.

Our local rail network has a vitally important role to play if we are to turbocharge a ‘Rural Renaissance’ of local business and enterprise, as well as spread jobs, opportunities and prosperity to EVERYONE living in our local Mid Norfolk communities.

That’s why, over the years, I have been so active in promoting rural rail station regeneration, including the importance of finally addressing access issues at our local stations (specifically at Platform 2 of Wymondham Station).

Last month, I convened an urgent, virtual summit with key stakeholders involved in Wymondham Station and made it clear to them in no uncertain terms that we must see action on step free access to Platform 2 as quickly as possible – and as the first part of a wider regeneration package for the entire site. While I welcomed the positive responses from all involved, I stressed that they were not enough on their own and have set some clear, tangible actions that I want to see completed ahead of another virtual summit before Christmas.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to meeting with the local Wymondham Station Access Group to discuss the conversations to date and hear from them first-hand. Their views are vital to this process.

I have also today written to the new Secretary of State at the Department for Transport to impress upon him the strategic significance of Wymondham Station and the need to transform it into a vibrant 21st century hub and ‘gateway’ to Wymondham and the Norwich Research Cluster (with a resolution to the lack of step free access at Platform 2 the vital first step in that regeneration vision).

Rest assured, this remains a key campaign of mine moving forward.

To stay up to date with all my work on this issue, please visit my website campaign page here.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

We remember all those who have served and continue to serve our country, especially those from Mid Norfolk and all their families.

Honoured to plant a cross in the Parliament Garden of Remembrance in memory of those from Mid Norfolk who served and continue to serve our country, as well as the Forces families who support them in our constituency.  

Thank you for all you have done and continue to do. 

2 women every week are killed by a current or former partner. 1 in every 3 women will experience domestic abuse in her life. Norfolk alone saw a 40% increase in domestic violence during the pandemic. 

These are truly shocking statistics – and that’s why I continue to work with local community groups and charities that provide support to victims and their families, as well as key local figures (including the Lord Lieutenant, High Sheriff and Police and Crime Commissioner), to raise awareness of this awful issue and provide support where I can. 

In recent months, I have been raising the views of the Taskforce that I helped convene with those key figures and the likes of the Daisy Programme (see more about their vital work here) with ministers and officials in Westminster. I am pleased to report that I have today also extended an invitation to the new Minister of State for Victims and Sentencing, inviting him to come to Norfolk and see first-hand the work being done by the Daisy Programme and the Norfolk Integrated Domestic Abuse Service.  

Rest assured, I remain committed to doing all I can to help tackle this scourge in our society. 

To stay up to date with my work on this issue, please visit my website here  

Anyone familiar with Mid Norfolk knows that our area is home to a much loved sense of spirit and community that binds us all together. This was evident none more so than during the pandemic – when the goodwill and generosity of local people really came to the fore in order to support one another and keep our local communities going.

A big part of that local spirit is our many wonderful community groups and sports clubs – all doing incredible work in our local towns and villages.

That’s why, throughout my time as the local MP, I have done my utmost to support them – trying to visit at least one or two each constituency day to shine a light on the great work they are doing, as well as find out what I can do to help their efforts.

This page is to showcase some of the brilliant groups and sports clubs here in our area, and my work to help raise awareness of them and offer support.

Anyone familiar with Mid Norfolk knows that our area is home to a much loved sense of spirit and community that binds us all together. This was evident none more so than during the pandemic – when the goodwill and generosity of local people really came to the fore in order to support one another and keep our local communities going. 

A big part of that local spirit is our many wonderful community groups and sports clubs – all doing incredible work in our local towns and villages.  

That’s why, throughout my time as the local MP, I have done my utmost to support them – trying to visit at least one or two each constituency day to shine a light on the great work they are doing, as well as find out what I can do to help their efforts. 

To see more on my work supporting these vitally important local assets, please visit my campaign page here. 

If YOU are involved in a local community group or sports club and would like my help, or for me to visit, please do take the time to get in touch via george.freeman.mp@parliament.uk.