Westminster’s new MPs have still been finding their feet this week.
Among their ranks are the blue army of new, northern Conservative MPs who smashed through the “red wall” of Labour constituencies that before 12 December stretched from north Wales to south Yorkshire.
The upshot of the general election earthquake is that the Tories now have a direct stake in what ex-chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne termed the Northern Powerhouse.
This explains why the Tories are hatching plans to inject fresh resources into the north of England in the upcoming Budget.
This spending boost potentially offers new opportunities for the energy sector, which unlike many industries, isn’t focused on London and the south east.
Rather, the gold mines of the green industrial revolution are to be found on England’s North Sea coast. The east coast towns and cities, which were hit hard by the decline of the once thriving fishing industry, are the epicentre of an explosion of offshore wind development that shows little sign of slowing down.
And some of the best prospects for developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology are likely to be found in nearby Teesside.
The energy sector must seize the opportunities presented by the government’s northward turn of focus. It would be poetic justice if the region that suffered grievously from the decline of coal could be the big winner from the rise of the carbon bad boy’s cleaner and greener successors.