Energy: Winter Supplies

Baroness Worthington Excerpts

Monday 20th October 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

No, my Lords. We have a sensible policy in this country, and people across the world look at what we are doing to encourage green energy as well as traditional fuels. If we are to leave a cleaner planet for future generations, we have a part to play.

[Baroness Worthington (Lab)]

My Lords, demand for energy has fallen so far this year. In the first half of this year we saw a 17.5% reduction in gas demand and a 5.7% reduction in electricity demand. People are walking around today in T-shirts. There is no need for the hysterical headlines that we are seeing about closures in plant. We have 25% of our energy today coming from wind. The question is: does the Minister agree that it is time to create an energy security board so that we can stop the alarmist headlines, have a mature debate and get our energy security and demand management policy back on track?

[Baroness Verma]

I agree with the noble Baroness that we need to have a sensible energy debate; maybe she could take that message back to her leader.