Graham Stringer
Main Page: Graham Stringer (Labour - Blackley and Middleton South)
Mr Speaker
Order. If we are to mitigate the pressure on time, there must now be a particular premium on brevity in the remaining questions and, of course, in the Secretary of State’s answers.
Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton) (Lab)
The Secretary of State uses his fight against climate change and the need to reduce emissions to justify charging twice the market rate for energy, but this country has one of the largest carbon footprints in the world and it is increasing because of emissions input. Why does he not talk about that failure of his policy? Will he tell us what he is going to do about it?
Mr Davey
I think the hon. Gentleman is talking about the fact that a lot of the products we import come from countries with high carbon intensity production processes. It might be a little harsh to describe this as a failure of my policy, but I know that the Select Committee and the Committee on Climate Change are interested in looking at that issue, and they should do so. In fact, this simply shows that we need a global treaty on climate change. One country cannot tackle it alone. We live in an interdependent world that has an interdependent economy and an interdependent climate. That is the answer for the hon. Gentleman: he needs to get behind the push for a global treaty on climate change.