CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO – JACKDAW GASFIELD TO BEGIN PRODUCTION - 21 October 2026

ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO – JACKDAW GASFIELD TO BEGIN PRODUCTION - 21 October 2026

Sir Julian Lewis: Do the Government now accept that the former Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero got this important policy seriously wrong, and if so, why was he promoted to become Foreign Secretary?

[The Minister for Energy (Michael Shanks): I am tempted to say that it is certainly not a question for me, but I will answer the first part of the right hon. Gentleman’s question. To be really clear, we came into Government with a judgment by the Court of Session that quashed the decisions, which required us then to put in place a process that considered the scope 3 emissions as part of a consenting regime. We had to design that process, consult on it with industry, get to a place where it was a practical process and then consider the applications. We have done that, and we have done it as quickly as we possibly could.]