Building an energy system that delivers for all

It is a pleasure to be here and I would like to say a huge thank you to Energy UK for bringing us all together.

You have heard today about the choices facing our energy system.

And I want to spend our time together talking about what it will take to build its future and the partnership between government and industry that will make this possible.

That starts with recognising what the people in this room do. You keep the country powered. You invest in our infrastructure, develop our people and build the projects on which our future depends.

You know what it takes to turn ambition into investment and investment into something people can see around them.

And you continued to do that through years of economic and political uncertainty.

So I just wanted to start by saying thank you to each and every one of you for everything you have done to get us to this point – and for the work I hope we will do together in the months and years ahead.

And that work begins with our ambition as a government to deliver a 10-year plan for national renewal.

One that unlocks growth in every single postcode.

Reindustrialises parts of the country that have been held back.

And ensures that people have the basics to live well.

In a Britain that is confident, that is forward-looking and that is hopeful.

And energy has an absolutely vital role to play in that.

An everyday essential that we all rely on.

But one that is increasingly unaffordable for too many families and too many businesses.

In a system that is simply not working for them as consumers.

Now look I know that this is not a reality that any of us can be happy with – and it is one we are absolutely determined to turn around as a government.

And we have taken the next steps for the drive for homegrown clean power.

We all know that one of the reasons we are seeing rising prices is because we are uniquely exposed to volatile global fossil fuel markets.