Energy Bill [HL]

Debate between Baroness Hayman and Lord Lexden

Committee stage
Monday 16th January 2023 Grand Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Lexden) (Con)]

My Lords, the amendment is Amendment 227B.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

For the assistance of the Committee, I point out that the numbering of the groups that we were given last night and was up to date was changed when we came to the paper that we received today, but no indication was given of that. Therefore, I believe that this is now the correct order.

Trade Bill

Debate between Baroness Hayman and Lord Lexden

Committee stage & Committee: 2nd sitting (Hansard) & Committee: 2nd sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Thursday 1st October 2020 Grand Committee

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as co-chair of Peers for the Planet. As the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, said, I have added my name to Amendment 12 in this group, and will speak to others, notably Amendments 40 and 73. As the noble Lord also said, this group deals with the critical role that trade can play in tackling climate and nature emergencies.

The Bill gives us the opportunity to shape the UK’s future trade policy for the first time in over 40 years, and represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the UK to show global leadership on climate action in advance of our presidency of COP 26 next year. It allows us the chance to ensure that the UK’s trade policy aligns with existing environmental obligations and the UK’s climate goal of achieving net zero by 2050.

At Second Reading, I raised my concerns that the Bill is currently silent on climate change and highlighted the benefits which can come from ensuring that all our legislation is consistent with climate goals. As the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, said, we achieved this with the climate change provisions inserted in the Pension Schemes Bill during its passage through this House. I welcome the Minister’s positive response at Second Reading, when he said that continuity agreements will be consistent with international environmental obligations and Amendment 12 makes this explicit in the Bill. Amendments 40 and 73 go further, to ensure that future trade agreements and trade negotiations also align with our climate ambitions.

On Amendment 40, I particularly support the introduction of sustainability impact assessments. Only with such assessments will Parliament be able to sufficiently scrutinise trade deals against our current obligations made under the Paris Agreement and the Climate Change Act, in the very limited 21-day period that the CRaG Act allows for. Sustainability impact assessments will help to incentivise trade deals which promote low-carbon imports, services and technologies, rather than those that increase global emissions, impacting the health of our planet and our citizens.

The benefits of a long-term future trade policy which can help to meet our climate and environmental goals are enormous and can strengthen the UK’s economic competitiveness through supporting exports of low-carbon goods and services. As has been said, the business opportunities of moving to a low-carbon economy were estimated by the Committee on Climate Change as being worth £1 trillion a year by 2030. UK low-carbon services are estimated to have a growth potential of 12% to 15% a year up to 2030. It makes sense from an economic, social and environmental perspective.

This is being more widely recognised. Business groups such as the Aldersgate Group, an alliance of major businesses, academic institutions, and professional and civil society organisations driving action for a sustainable and competitive economy, support amendments that aim to better align the UK’s trade policy with its environmental and climate goals, and enable sufficient parliamentary scrutiny in doing so. It believes that, without careful reference to climate change and the environment in the Bill, the terms of future free trade agreements could make it harder for the UK to achieve its domestic targets and could undermine the momentum behind its clean growth agenda.

Importantly, any explicit or implicit restrictions on the UK’s ability to implement new climate and environmental standards could create an uneven playing field for British businesses forced to compete with imports abiding by lower climate and environmental standards. The development and ratification of trade deals must also be subject to timely and close parliamentary and stakeholder scrutiny. These amendments would ensure much needed consistency between the UK’s trade policy, its international position on climate change and the environment, and its domestic policy and industrial strategy goals, to which the Minister made reference this morning.

We are at a critical turning point; the next 10 years are crucial, and we have a real opportunity for global action on climate change. It is vital that future trade policy helps, not hinders, the delivery of the UK’s climate and environmental goals. I hope that the Minister will be able to respond positively to these amendments.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Lexden) (Con)]

My Lords, I understand that it has not been possible to reach the noble Lord, Lord Duncan of Springbank, who was due to participate remotely, so I call the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020

Debate between Baroness Hayman and Lord Lexden

Friday 18th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, like others, I find playing the game of legislative scrutiny catch-up unsatisfying and less than we should be doing as parliamentarians. I address my remarks to the rule of six, which was mentioned at the end of the Minister’s speech, and to one specific provision: the decision, in England, to include primary school-aged children in the total of people allowed in the gathering of six.

The other countries of the UK have taken a very different position on this issue. It is clear that young children are not at serious risk themselves. Equally, the evidence suggests that they do not pose a substantial risk of transmitting the virus to others. In any case, the children who will be caught by these regulations are already, in almost every case, members of families that are included in the total of six. So if I am no longer able to meet my son, daughter-in-law and their three children together, I can exclude one of the twins, perhaps, from that gathering to comply with the law. However, if I and my husband meet my four individual sons, themselves heads of households, that will not be illegal, but the risk of that is infinitely greater than the risk of including children.

I understand that this has been done in the interests of simplicity and clarity, but we have also to act in the interests of logic and common sense. I hope that the Minister will assure me that we will monitor the effects in the other countries of the UK and change if necessary.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Lexden) (Con)]

My Lords, I call the next speaker, the noble Lord, Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown. No? I call the next speaker, the noble Lord, Lord Cormack.