Queen’s Speech — House of Lords, 2022-05-16
Topic: Energy
David Arthur Russell Howell (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, it is a huge pleasure to follow the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich in his maiden speech. I note in passing that St Edmundsbury Cathedral celebrated its 1,000-year anniversary last weekend, so the right reverend Prelate is in a position to take the long view on certain things. He has huge international experience combined with parish experience on the ground—both angles. He is engaged, I have been informed, in a "Transforming Effectiveness" project in the Church of England. I think we could all do with a bit of transforming of effectiveness, so maybe he will take the lead on that as well. I note personally that he is an honorary canon of Ely Cathedral, a most graceful and beautiful cathedral and certainly my favourite. Aside from all that, his is just the voice we want here in London on the great social and other challenges that he has mentioned; I hope that we will hear a very great deal more from him I shall speak mostly about energy, climate, prices and inflation. I declare my interests as in the register, including as an adviser to the Kuwait Investment Office. The cost of living and inflation crisis is basically driven by the energy prices and energy crisis, and energy price roots are international and demand immediate international understanding and action. Obviously, we can try, and we are trying, to marginally alleviate the suffering and damage here, which affect not merely the very poorest households but more or less half the households in this nation; but the real and immediate solutions to this intolerable situation lie elsewhere. The only effective short-term—I emphasise, short-term—answer to all this demand and shortage is more supply. The OPEC countries can easily add 3 million or 4 million barrels a day in quite short order, and their current refusal to do so must be vigorously challenged. If we followed this course and could make some precious advance there, we would send all fuel prices, and by knock-on effects gas and petrol prices and so on, tumbling and take the steam out of inflation far more effectively than any subsidies, grants, or jiggling with the bank rate—which anyway only has an effect a year ahead, if at all—or other relief measures. Even an extra £10 billion one-off windfall from the oil companies’ vast and fortuitous profits—a take which I am at all not against as it is a sensible thing to do—will be only marginal relief from the biggest cost jumps in a generation, with much more to come, so they say. I cannot see that accelerating more North Sea oil development, with results in maybe three to four years’ time, will help either the immediate crisis or our longer-term security. People forget that the North Sea is an international province, as Ted Heath discovered in 1972 at the time of the oil shock and, of course, has to supply its oil into world markets We should be using all our famed soft power and diplomacy to get our Middle East so-called friends to stop their dogged refusal to help and start pumping more right now, and point out the sheer foolishness and short-sightedness, both political and commercial, of not doing so. How is that to be done? If the EU is divided and cannot decide which way to go and the United Nations is hamstrung by the fact that Russia is in the chair, our own country should seek to lead a coalition of like-minded nations to confront our so-called OPEC friends with the immorality and danger of their persistent refusal to use their spare capacity now and offset the effect of Russian exports being cut. Even Iran, if we can get through the JCPOA crisis, wants to add another million barrels a day. Every day that OPEC leaders delay in pumping more ensures that billions continue pouring into Russian coffers to finance the Ukrainian butchery In fact, the scene for gas is changing fast. Covid has already shrunk the Chinese market, and I am told that Milford Haven and other ports are now jammed with diverted LNG ships wanting to put more gas into the UK grid system. The global price for gas has dropped sharply, so why on earth are we still being told about charging consumers hundreds more for gas this autumn? Why we cannot we get this production into our pipelines and to hard-pressed households beats me, and I hope that the Minister will explain that odd conundrum I turn to our longer-term energy security and to the climate struggle in the White Paper. Yes, the promise of expanded nuclear power is good, although it is disgraceful that a firm and reliable block of low-carbon nuclear power has ever been allowed to run down the way it has. Some of us tried to begin the replacement of outdated nuclear plants 40 years ago, when I announced 15 gigawatts of new nuclear in December 1979 in the other place. It was nearly all defeated by political weakness, public fears and, above all, short-termism. Only one plant ever got built—Sizewell B—and that took 15 years from my announcement There is much more to say on whether the programme is going the right way but, as I am over my five minutes, I shall just add that I look with sadness on the numerous blunders in our energy policy over the past 30 years under all parties. Warnings were consistently neglected and short-termism prevailed, politically and financially. Here we are in a total energy mess, and it is time to start digging ourselves out of it.