PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
National Wealth Fund: Opportunities for Industry - 17 December 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

The national wealth fund is delivering a key manifesto commitment to set up a Government-backed investor—in some ways like the sovereign wealth funds we see in other countries—that will support the UK’s industrial strategy and economic growth. It will play a central role in our clean power mission by creating jobs in rapidly growing green industries. My role sits across the Department for Business and Trade, where I work on industrial strategy, and this Department, where I work on industrial decarbonisation, so I have a unique vantage point to see the benefits of the national wealth fund and all the opportunities it will bring.

As the Minister knows, I am concerned about kick-starting floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea. The infrastructure and supply chain need building out quickly, but in a co-ordinated way, and the previous Government’s floating offshore wind manufacturing investment scheme was not enough to do that. Will the Minister please confirm that she is working with the wealth fund on a strategy and then speedy investment in ports such as Falmouth and the local supply chain, so that they are ready to take on the challenge of floating offshore wind?

My hon. Friend is a great champion for her area, and we have talked about the opportunities of Falmouth and the surrounding areas previously, and I am sure we will do so again. For too long, our coastal areas have lacked the jobs and opportunities they deserve, and we are determined to change that. Through the national wealth fund we will invest in our ports, and Great British Energy will look to crowd in private sector funding to emerging technologies such as floating offshore wind. We are developing our strategies and working as fast as we can.

I welcome the Government’s publication of the “Clean Power 2030 Action Plan” last week. It will mark a transformative shift towards clean energy that will bring good jobs and industry to the whole country. The plan proposes the use of the national wealth fund to explore nascent renewable generation projects. The Minister will know of the potential for tidal range on the west coast. What steps is the Department taking to explore that potential? Will she meet me to discuss the potential for tidal range projects in my constituency?

I would love to hear more, as I am sure would the Minister for Energy, my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen (Michael Shanks). We are committed to all forms of renewable energy if they are economical, which is why we ringfenced tidal in the latest contracts for difference auction, which resulted in six tidal projects being successful, securing up to 28 MW. We continue to look at what more we can do to support this more nascent technology, including the role that GB Energy can play in the future.

The Government’s quick action when they took office to commission Project Willow is welcome, but confirmation of the decision by Petroineos to close the Grangemouth refinery next year has caused further concern and uncertainty throughout the workforce in the central belt. With the sustainable aviation fuel mandate starting in 2025 requiring 10% of jet fuel to be SAF by 2030, what consideration has the Minister given to using the role of the national wealth fund to support the rapid conversion of Grangemouth into a sustainable aviation fuel facility?

I appreciate the uncertainty faced by people in my hon. Friend’s constituency. We have Project Willow and the plan for the site’s future. A joint committee, which I co-chair, has just been set up with the Department for Transport looking at sustainable aviation fuel and other options to fund and support that, to ensure that we have that emerging industry.

The fund’s title is the national wealth fund. Will the Minister outline what she intends to do to ensure that industries across the nation of the United Kingdom will benefit from it?

The national wealth fund makes decisions on what it funds and what it does not, but our plan is for the whole country. For too long, this country has been held back in every corner, and the national wealth fund is a really important part of the future growth of this country in Northern Ireland and everywhere else.

Does the Minister agree that it is something of a tragedy that the UK, which is surrounded by the highest tidal range on planet Earth after Canada, uses so little of that for tidal and marine energy? She may agree that the reason is that while the lifetime cost of such schemes is as cheap as chips, the up-front costs are expensive. Could the national wealth fund ensure that we can build things—for example, in Morecambe Bay—that will generate secure renewable energy for all our lifetimes?

The hon. Gentleman puts his finger on the problem. That is what vehicles such as the national wealth fund and GB Energy are looking to resolve. We are of course open to it, and we will do what we can.