Darren Paffey has secured a ministerial meeting on electricity-grid delays affecting electrification and decarbonisation projects at the Port of Southampton.
The Labour MP for Southampton Itchen told the Commons that projects were ready to proceed but that the required National Grid upgrades were not expected for at least another decade.
He asked when the newly announced Great British Grid would be able to address gaps in local infrastructure and requested a meeting involving Southampton businesses.
Energy minister Michael Shanks agreed to meet Paffey and said he was confident National Grid could also be included in the discussion.
Shanks said the national grid-connection queue had previously exceeded 700 gigawatts and had since been reduced by 300 gigawatts. He cautioned that queue reform still had to be matched by construction after prolonged underinvestment.
The meeting is a concrete next step but does not itself provide a new connection date or funding allocation for the port projects. Those details will depend on subsequent discussions with the network operator and the Government.
