Tory MP Warns Energy And National Security Must Be "Inseparable" After British Steel Saga

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A Conservative MP has warned that government must treat energy and national security are "inseparable" as the UK faces growing questions over the role of foreign states in its critical infrastructure.

Harriet Cross, elected at the July general election, has called for what she described as a "defensive screening" of all future energy policy decisions to identify threats to the UK.

The Tory backbencher, who is part of the Conservative Environment Network caucus, is particularly concerned about China becoming "increasingly" involved in wind farms.

The remarks by the MP for Gordon and Buchan constituency — a key part of the oil and gas sector — come as the government faces calls for a review of Chinese investment in UK infrastructure after Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds was forced to bring emergency legislation to Parliament on Saturday to save Chinese-owned British Steel from closure.

Cross told PoliticsHome that the British Steel saga was a "huge warning" of the impact that a Chinese business operating strategic infrastructure in the UK can have, and one that the UK "must take seriously".

She said "without a doubt" national security needed to be a key question in any future energy security policy, warning that the UK could not afford to be naive.

"National security and energy security are absolutely inseparable, and any future energy policy we have must be built with defence and security considerations central and at their core."

The British steel case is also the latest flashpoint in a wider, long-running debate in British politics about the UK's relationship with China, and the potential risks to national security in forging deeper ties with the world's second largest economy.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that a long-term relationship with China was "squarely in our national interest" when she visited the country in January.

However, The Guardian reported this week that China would not attend a summit in London on the future of energy security, as Beijing's trade war with the US continues.

Cross said that the best way to pursue energy security is to source it from UK shores.

But when it comes to investment from overseas, "we need some sort of defensive screening, like the National Security Investment Act," she told PoliticsHome. The Act gives the government powers to scrutinise and intervene in business transactions to protect national security.

"With energy, that is something we should be looking at. We need to know who is supplying our energy and who is building our energy infrastructure," the MP said.

A government spokesperson told PoliticsHome that overseas investment in UK energy "is always subject to the highest levels of national security scrutiny with powers to block investment available through the National Security and Investment Act".

A major part of the UK government's commitment to clean energy comes from wind. The government has said it is committed to doubling onshore wind energy by 2030, seeing both onshore and offshore wind as a key component of the UK's move to cleaner energy.

A report from the Swedish National China Center last year found that non-Chinese turbine manufacturers are highly dependent on Chinese supply chains, with China supplying 70-80 per cent of many key components globally.

"China's influence can only ever increase, and increasingly they are getting involved in wind farms around the UK," Cross told PoliticsHome.

The Conservative backbencher pointed to reports that the Treasury had selected Chinese company Mingyang Smart Energy to supply the wind turbines for the Green Volt North Sea farm project, which is due to be Europe’s largest floating offshore wind farm.

Cross said that while previously China has not had a huge amount of direct investment into our floating or onshore wind turbines, "it will start to change".

She added that it's not "fear-mongering" to say that China or another hostile state could use the electronic components it provides to international energy supply chains to "reprogram or remotely shut down turbines" in other countries like the UK.

"We cannot give [China] free rein or any sort of leverage over us in terms of energy," she said.

Dan Marks, a research fellow in energy security at the defence and security think tank Royal United Services Institute, told PoliticsHome that in the future the UK "will be heavily dependent on wind".

"You don’t want to wake up one day and find that your only supplier for offshore wind in the UK is China. These are energy and industrial policy questions."

Like Cross, Marks said that there is a question "about how the clean power system impacts on defence and how does it look from that perspective".

The government spokesperson said: “We will always take a consistent long-term strategic approach to managing relations with China, supporting UK businesses involved with China and ensuring that we have the appropriate measures in place to mitigate any risks.”