Energy BILL [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting)

Debate between Clive Lewis and Rishi Sunak

Tuesday 2nd February 2016 Public Bill Committees

[Clive Lewis (Norwich South) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for her comments. I shall speak against Government new clauses 1, 2 and 3.

Throughout the debate on the Bill—in Committee, on Second Reading and in the other place—we have heard that Government decisions on energy policy, particularly with regard to renewables, have had a corrosive effect on investor confidence. It is appropriate to go through the list again, because it is quite despicable: the solar subsidy has been cut by 64%; the biomass subsidy has been cut; the biogas subsidy has been cut; the green deal has been scrapped; the renewables exemption from the climate change levy has been ended; and support for community renewable energy products has been slashed.

[Rishi Sunak (Richmond (Yorks)) (Con)]

rose—

[Oliver Dowden (Hertsmere) (Con)]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Clive Lewis]

I will come back to that point. Let us have a look at the renewable energy country attractiveness index, which saw a major reshuffling of the 10 most attractive countries for renewable energy potential and growth. One of the biggest losers was the United Kingdom, which dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since the information was published back in 20013. It was specifically because

“a wave of policy announcements reducing or removing various forms of support for renewable energy projects has left investors and consumers baffled”.

[Rishi Sunak]

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman has seen the report from the Climate Action Network, which I understand is an umbrella group of dozens of NGOs involved in climate change, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, which recently ranked Britain the second-best country in the world for tackling global warning, right behind Denmark, and represents a very strong commitment for tackling climate change. I would be interested in his thoughts on that.