Debate contribution: Great British Energy Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 11 February 2025.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

11 February 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Great British Energy Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4793353

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I rise, to use the cliché, not to speak in support of the LCM, although we will not force a Division on it, but, rather, to put on record real and important observations about the lack of information, which the Chair of the Economy Committee has just referred to, about how Great British Energy will operate in Northern Ireland. It is important to say that one of the priorities, notwithstanding the concerning utterances and plans of the Trump Administration, for the rest of this century in most of the world will be to decarbonise our economies, moving towards clean energy and away from the burning of fossil fuels. It is therefore welcome in principle that there will be a state-owned entity to drive investment in various types of renewables project. We have no difficulty with that, albeit that the title is not one that we would have selected. We welcome the principle of a state-owned energy company. However, energy here is devolved, and that is an important matter. We are having a debate in the absence of real detailed information about how GB Energy will select, prioritise and direct investments in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is also part of an all-island single electricity market. We are bound by aspects of European law in that regard, which is for a good reason: it enables us to keep the lights on, because we have a single grid operating on the island. None of that is necessarily a deterrent to GB Energy operating in Northern Ireland; in fact, I hope that it will make us a more attractive investment proposition, because we certainly have the capacity to and already do export energy to the EU via the rest of Ireland. Hopefully, ultimately, through the greater use of interconnections, we will export it across the continent of Europe. However, I draw Members' attention to the unique regulatory and investment position that Northern Ireland is in. We have very little detail as yet about how GB Energy will reflect that unique regulatory proposition or about how it will select and prioritise pieces of investment. From what the Minister said, it sounds as though that is not simply a failing on the part of her Department; clearly, part of it comes from the home UK Department, which has yet to provide clarity on how all of this will work. We, as an Opposition, would not be doing our job if we did not say today that it is concerning that we are bringing forward an LCM without clarity from the UK Government about precisely how it will operate. I want my words to be in Hansard, because I am concerned. The Sewel convention operates with regard to how LCMs are brought forward in devolved legislatures. Given that UK Governments often disregard the rejection of LCMs by devolved legislatures — I hope that the current UK Government are less wont to do that than their predecessor — and have the prerogative to simply carry on anyway, it is really important that, when an LCM is going to pass, as, it appears, this one will, there are clear words in the Hansard of our devolved legislature that demonstrate that we are not in a good position in terms of what we know and do not know about how Great British Energy will operate. It matters because we have an energy strategy and an implementation plan in Northern Ireland. We have made progress over the past decade and more on moving our generation towards renewables, and we have specific advantages as part of islands in the north Atlantic that, for example, generate a lot of wind and tidal energy. However, there are also concerns from energy companies — I am sure that they have vocalised them to members of the Economy Committee — about the certainty of when certain interconnectors, whether they are North/South or east-west, will be built. There are concerns in that respect from industry and the investment community, which we need to be behind what we do on energy. I am simply putting on record some concerns that I have about the fact that we do not yet know how Great British Energy will interact in Northern Ireland. It may well be a really useful and positive source of getting investment into our renewables sector here, which would be welcome. We are not going to force a Division simply for that reason, but it is concerning that we do not yet have detail.

It is also the case that, in the future, there could be UK Governments of different political persuasions and perspectives who might want to use Great British Energy to prioritise their own type of investment, which might be different from what a devolved Minister, in conjunction with their counterpart in the Republic, might want to prioritise. We need to be alive to all those things and working on all those things.

If the LCM is accepted today — I think that it will be — we cannot simply allow some random official in Whitehall to say, "Ah well, the Northern Ireland Assembly gave its legislative consent to this. We can basically do what we like now". Frankly, I fear that that is what will happen, given that, often, when we withhold our legislative consent to something, they do it anyway. We need to have absolute clarity and have it on the record. Perhaps we can hear from the Minister what she intends to do and what the Executive intend to do to get commitments in writing and articulated on the record. We want commitments on safeguards for the devolved settlement. That is number one. We want commitments on our specific legal and regulatory context here in the North and on the island of Ireland; the fact that we operate within a single electricity market on the island of Ireland; and the fact that we have unique and distinct opportunities in exporting energy across the EU and want those to be respected and maximised. What specific promises or provisions will be made to help us to maximise our dual market access and potential opportunities there, which Great British Energy could help us to fulfil? I would like all those on the record. I would like more detail on how the Bill will respect the devolved settlement. The Minister said that amendments had come forward. That is progress. I am glad that Minister Murphy sought and got further clarity. As the Minister said, this is a Bill that just creates an entity called Great British Energy; it does not start to make investments, and it does not start to set strategic priorities. However, we are beginning to go down the road of the existence of this legal entity. We need more clarity and detail about how, as I said, it will respect the devolved settlement, respect our unique regulatory position and enable us to maximise dual market access. All those things are important. Finally, we are, it appears, passing an LCM to help the UK Government, which came into power in July of last year, to create an entity called Great British Energy. The Minister's previous Department did not bring forward similar enabling legislation for an entity that has existed for almost five years: the Fiscal Council. We are waiting, waiting and waiting for the Northern Ireland Assembly to legislate for the Fiscal Council, but we are passing a motion on Great British Energy. That is slightly in parenthesis and not really to do with what we are debating today, but it points to the slight difficulty that we have in respect of legislation coming through here. We will not force a Division on the LCM, but I want us to put on the record that we have specific issues that we want to see the UK Government address. I would like to hear the Minister for the Economy tell us specifically how she and her colleagues will raise those with the UK Government.

1,329 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:57 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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