A former Treasury chief secretary is one of the four candidates putting themselves forward to become chair of the influential Parliamentary committee which scrutinises the government’s energy policy.
Four Labour backbench MPs – Liam Byrne, Ian Lucas, Albert Owen and Rachel Reeves – are the candidates who have been nominated for the chairmanship of the BEIS (business, energy and industrial strategy) House of Commons select committee.
The post was vacated by former chairman Iain Wright, who became a high-profile critic of the major energy companies before his resignation as MP for Hartlepool at the general election.
Byrne served as chief secretary to the Treasury when Gordon Brown was prime minister, infamously leaving a note to his successor after the 2010 general election, telling him that ‘there’s no money left’.
In his pitch to become BEIS select committee, the former entrepreneur says he is determineed “to see our green and pleasant land become this century’s pioneer of low-carbon economic growth.”
Lucas is a former business minister and SME owner, who represents the north Wales constituency of Wrexham
His fellow north Wales backbencher Owen represents the Ynys Mon constituency which is the location of the Wylfa B nuclear power plant. Owen was a member of the BEIS select committee until the recent dissolution of Parliament.
He says he is keen to put consumer rights “at the top of the agenda – particularly with regards to energy and utility pricing.”
Saying that he has a ‘strong interest’ in energy, Owen says the BEIS committee needs to be given a stronger focus to energy to ensure a “fairer” market and to give a priority to consumers and small businesses along with larger companies.
Reeves, who served as shadow Treasury chief secretary when Ed Miliband was Labour leader and worked at the Bank of England as an economist before becoming an MP, has said her priorities as chair include securing a “sustainable and cost-effective energy policy.”
All four candidates are Labour MPs under rules which divvy up the select committee chairmanships amongst the Westminster parties according to their share of the House of Commons.
The vote to determine the chairmanship of the BEIS committee will take place on Wednesday.