Fourth Carbon Budget

Graham Stringer Excerpts

Tuesday 17th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Chris Huhne]

The group that is considering the impact on energy-intensive industries is certainly taking into account all the impacts of policy as well as the other impacts. Obviously, some effects on energy-intensive industry have nothing to do with policy and there are some macro-economic effects, such as the relative competitiveness gained through the improvement in the real exchange rate. We will take account of all those factors when we come to conclusions about the measures necessary to help energy-intensive industries.

[Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has mentioned on a number of occasions the increased number of jobs in the renewables sector of the economy. This March, Verso Economics produced a report for the Scottish Parliament that showed that for every job created in the renewables sector 3.7 jobs were destroyed in the rest of the economy. How does he marry that report’s conclusions with the statements he has been making?

[Chris Huhne]

For every report that reaches the sort of conclusion that the hon. Gentleman is suggesting, I can point him to other reports that suggest exactly the opposite. The OECD, which is probably the most respected and authoritative of international economic organisations, has done some very good work on green growth. We have had a very important study from Potsdam in co-ordination with a number of leading economists from Oxford and elsewhere that suggests that there are positive growth effects through investment and learning by doing. Recently, I received a very important note from Professor Nick Stern—Lord Stern—arguing that the attempts to see his report as imposing costs on the economy were simply mistaken. He feels very strongly that the move to low-carbon goods and services involves enormous opportunities and that the increase in investment involved can help to power us out of an exceptionally deep recession. That is perhaps a long answer to show that when two economists are in a room, there are sometimes three opinions. None the less, the balance of argument is very much against the hon. Gentleman’s point.