Climate Change and SustainableEnergy Bill

I take your point entirely, Madam Deputy Speaker. The issue is the time scale and the fact that the events are being concentrated into decades or a few hundred years. That is the real reason why we are so alarmed—and rightly so—and that is why the Bill is so welcome. In Committee, when I was proposing greater powers for local authorities to take action, particularly in relation to planning, I visited a major new commercial development that was constructed by Gazeley Properties, one of Europe’s largest commercial property developers, in Bedford. I saw how business best practice is now way ahead of the Government in responding to the challenges of incorporating new technology and design into new builds in order to reduce CO2 and increase energy efficiency. I was incredibly impressed with what I saw. Many of the concerns and worries that we heard from the Government in Committee, in relation to why it was wrong to act, seemed totally misplaced. If one talks to progressive businesses, they want to see a higher standard and a more level playing field. John Duggan, the chief executive officer of Gazeley, was recently asked whether he felt that the Government, as a partner to UK business, were providing organisations such as Gazeley with the necessary regulatory and fiscal frameworks or the appropriate advice, support, direction and advocacy, or whether he felt that the corporate sector was being left to fill the leadership void itself. He responded—