A North Wales politician has expressed concerns following the announcement of a major £22 billion carbon capture funding pledge which is to be rolled out in Ellesmere Port across the region.

Welsh Labour and Co-operative MS Carolyn Thomas raised the "greenwashing" issue in the Senedd, with HyNet proposing to store carbon dioxide emitted from major industrial firms at Stanlow under the sea off the North Wales coast.

Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband told the Commons last week: "This announcement will enable construction of two transport and storage networks that will underpin this new industry – the highways for carbon capture – and the deals we’ve agreed will also kick-start development of Net Zero Teesside, the world’s largest gas with CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage) plant, Protos, a new CCUS energy-from-waste facility, and EETH, the UK’s first large-scale blue hydrogen project, indeed the cleanest in the world, both of them in Ellesmere Port.

“Crowding in £8 billion of private investment across these two clusters, creating 4,000 jobs in our industrial heartlands, and building an initial capacity to remove about 8.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions each and every year.”

Mr Miliband added: “This is all part of a Government that in the last three months has shown we are in a hurry to deliver our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower.”

But Mrs Thomas, writing in her regular column for The Leader, has questioned whether the Government should be investing in such schemes.

She wrote: "I asked how the Health & Safety Executive and Natural Resources Wales intend to ensure the carbon dioxide is safely transported, as well as how the underground pipes are going to be monitored for any ruptures or leakage, issues which have plagued carbon capture projects elsewhere in the world.

"The Health and Safety Executive themselves have said that the behaviour of carbon dioxide is still relatively unknown.

"I also requested that local communities across Flintshire which are going to be impacted by the development are properly compensated. I am aware of one local community council being offered just £3,000 in compensation for piping through a play area – this wouldn’t even be enough to pay for one piece of play equipment.

"In response, the Cabinet Secretary acknowledged my strongly held views on the proposal, and spoke about visiting Heidelberg Materials at Padeswood, an example of a heavy industry company who are seeking to build a new plant to capture carbon dioxide from their production of cement.

"I am deeply concerned that the more plausible use of carbon capture for heavy industries such as cement is being used as a smokescreen to allow fossil fuel companies to also use carbon capture infrastructure to continue extracting planet-wrecking fossil fuels.

"Over the course of the last few years, I have met with, and listened to, academics, scientists, environmentalists, campaign groups, and engineers, all of whom have raised serious concerns with these carbon capture proposals. It is vitally important that the decision makers also listen to these concerns, not just to the sales-pitch of the fossil fuel companies who are backing HyNet.

"Job creation is often advanced as a selling point by those who support these plans, but there are question marks over the sustainability of these jobs given the poor track record of the carbon capture industry.

"We have lots of vital job vacancies which cannot be filled in health, dentistry, planning, and education for example. Many local businesses are also struggling to fill vacancies.

"The £20bn being spent on carbon capture should instead be invested in building low carbon social housing, funding grants to insulate homes, providing solar panels and battery storage to reduce energy bills, and expanding renewable energy provision.

"We also require investment in the National Grid, as we currently have solar farms that cannot connect for at least 15 to 20 years, such as the large one being built in Bretton which cannot connect until 2038."

Reform UK’s Richard Tice argued in the House of Commons that millions of pensioners will view the decision to spend £22 billion on renewable energy as “absolutely extraordinary”.

Mr Tice, who represents Boston and Skegness, said: “Ten million pensioners will find it absolutely extraordinary that this Government has managed to find over £20 billion, when they can’t find £1 billion to fund the winter fuel allowance. £20 billion, Secretary of State, in what you’ve admitted is a risky technology.”

He added: “This is almost £1,000 per household Secretary of State, will this sum of taxpayers money, will it be added to general taxation when taxes are already at record highs or will it be added to our energy bills that you’ve promised will be brought down?”

Mr Miliband responded: “Here we have the party that claims to be the party of working people opposing jobs for working people right across the country, it says all you need to know about (Mr Tice).

“Outside of this House he pretends to be in favour of good industrial jobs for Britain, in this House he opposes them.”