Energy Bill

I have listened to the concerns and arguments that the Minister has put forward. Let me try to address two of his concerns, and then his arguments. The first concern is about the commitment that he has already made to considering the issue of microgeneration. The great difficulty is that there is a whole series of issues that the Government have agreed to consider. For instance, they agreed to look at the 2010 fuel poverty targets. Unfortunately, having done so, they decided that the targets were too difficult to reach, and that we will not meet them, so that commitment will not get us out of the mess that we are in. Secondly, the Minister expressed concern about the fact that if a feed-in tariff scheme were applied too widely, it could create chaos. He did not mention the fact that he would be in charge of determining how widely the scheme would apply, so the chaos would be his, as is the current chaos. We have to recognise that although good things that are beginning to happen, they are beginning to happen in a country that is at the bottom of the European renewables league. There is nothing in our programme that will allow us to meet the 2010 targets to which we have committed ourselves. What we are asking colleagues to vote for, through the new clause, is a commitment on the part of the Government to come back within a year with a framework that sets out how we would introduce appropriate feed-in tariff legislation that applies to the different technologies and to electricity generation, heat generation and the production of biogas. We are talking about a timetable, more than anything else. Let me explain the significance of the timetable. Last December, our Government sent Ministers to the conference on climate change in Bali. The scientists reporting to that conference said to global leaders that in the next five to eight years we will determine the fate of the generations that will follow. It is what we do in those five to eight years that will determine whether we pass the tipping-point for climate chaos or not. We cannot avoid having to deal with the crises ahead of us, but we do not need to allow chaos to develop. That requires us to act on a dramatic scale now. There is nothing in the framework before the House that will allow us or equip us to take that step. I am asking colleagues from all parties in the House to have the courage to take that step. I know that many of us have mentioned the name of Lily Allen during the debate, but I hope she will forgive me if I end with some lines from another singer, Tracy Chapman, who sung:"““A love declared for days to come,""Is as good as none.””" Consultations without commitments are as good as none. The House today has the opportunity to make a commitment that crosses party divides, that crosses interests in society, but that unites us in a commitment to deliver something meaningful and sustainable. I hope we have the courage to do so. Question put, That the clause be read a Second time:— The House divided: Ayes 210, Noes 250.