Shadow Ministers demand green technology backing

Leeds West MP and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves was joined by Luciana Berger, Labour’s Shadow Climate Change Minister yesterday to visit Drax power station near Selby for a briefing on the carbon capture storage (CCS) project.

The new technology could potentially link the region’s power stations, capturing carbon emissions and storing them under the North Sea. CCS, along with biomass and offshore wind farms are viewed as central to Yorkshire’s shift towards a new “green energy” economy.

However the coalition has come under fire from industry leaders after cutting subsidies for new biomass power stations and cancelling plans for the UK’s first “clean coal” plant at Longannet in Scotland.

Ms Reeves said it was vital for both the regional and the national economy that green energy projects were prioritised by the Government.

“Everyone talks about rebalancing the economy outside of financial services and the work here at Drax is an excellent example of where that’s happening,” she said. “Companies like Drax can be part of those renaissance industries but what we have heard from them today is that it’s happening, but they need a government on their side.

“But this Government, I think, doesn’t have that ambition for Britain – it doesn’t put its money where its mouth is.

“Unless they do that we won’t be market leaders in green technologies. I would urge the Government to do that by giving certainty in policy and infrastructure, and that will help unlock private sector investment.”

Speaking in Leeds last month, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said the Government would give every support to a proposed wave of “clean coal” projects and biomass power plants, pledging £1bn for CCS.