Energy Bill

Before the Minister sits down, I have a question about one key phrase that was used. The noble Baroness talked about value for taxpayers. However, I was trying to communicate that the Bill will introduce considerable extra costs for consumers. What I am trying to get at is that taxpayers and consumers are one and the same—we are all taxpayers and all consumers of electricity. If you focus purely on the disposition of plutonium as something completely separate that the public purse has to fund, and argue that we just spend money on what costs the least, you are missing the bigger picture. As a citizen, I am both a consumer and a taxpayer, and will be paying for nuclear projects as a consumer. I would like to see a coherent strategy that says, “Here is a solution that gives two outcomes. We get rid of plutonium and we have low-cost electricity, which saves consumers money”. I just want to test that.