I apologise for my lack of respect in referring to the noble Baroness, but, as you can see, this has got off to a very bad start. I hoped this would not happen because there is a very serious issue here to do with the degree of scenario planning that the Government have undertaken and the degree of rigour that they have applied to their analysis. I am very sorry that now we have lost sight of that very important point by what has just happened. I regret that deeply. I reiterate that this is a huge intervention into the market, and if you get it wrong, all sorts of unintended consequences will happen. It is simply not good enough to say that our models tell us that it will all be fine. We need to go out and talk to people in the real world, as I have done, and see what they are projecting for coal under the scenarios that we have in today’s market, the flexibilities that enable them going forward and building in the significant amount of money that is being redistributed to them through this mechanism. That is what I am seeking to explore. I
have been very disappointed that there is not even an acknowledgement that this is an issue. I heard the noble Baroness’s offer of working on the detail of this over the summer; I will take it in good faith and hope that we can work through the detail.
In conclusion, it is quite wrong of the Government to pray in aid least cost to consumers. This Government introduced the carbon floor price, which has disadvantaged the UK relative to the rest of Europe for virtually no perceived outcome at the moment. We are already paying the carbon floor price. It is already impacting on our businesses and consumers. This is a Treasury money-raising exercise. If you are the party interested in keeping costs low for consumers, that is the policy you should be looking at, not the very sensible suggestion of trying to ensure that the capacity mechanism does not have unintended consequences in terms of carbon. It is absolutely clear that the quickest and cheapest way to decarbonise the economy is to switch out of coal and into gas. You can shake your head if you want to, but you need to go back to history and look at what has happened. You can build as many renewables as you like, but if you get coal and gas wrong, you will not get to those low-carbon intensities. That is the issue I am trying to get to, and for you to use least cost and cost to consumers as excuses for doing that is really deplorable when you think of the carbon floor price. I think you need to go back and think about that. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.