Fourth Carbon Budget

Joan Ruddock Excerpts

Tuesday 17th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Chris Huhne]

I very much agree with the hon. Gentleman, the Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, who has made a powerful case in the past for a low-carbon economy. This is no longer a set of cottage industries. We are talking about a sector of the British economy that employs 910,000 people, which is growing extremely rapidly in a major world market, and which offers us enormous opportunities. I have no doubt that to those who move first and furthest will come the great advantages of the low-carbon economy. On the point about purchasing credits, having in a misspent youth practised economic forecasting and knowing about the difficulties of getting forecasts right one or two years in advance, I think it makes pragmatic sense to preserve a little flexibility when looking ahead as far as 2023-27.

[Joan Ruddock (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)]

We are on track to meet our first three carbon budgets because of the policies put in place and pioneered by the Labour Government. The right hon. Gentleman is yet to deliver on any of his flagship policies. When he speaks of renewables, does he not have some concern about the Ernst and Young report showing that only 13% of UK-based corporates, financiers and clean-tech companies believe that the coalition will create an environmental success this year?

[Chris Huhne]

I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for her question. She has followed this area for many years and has enormous expertise in it. However, if she is going to claim the credit for meeting the current carbon budget on the back of the previous Government’s record, she should be aware that an important contributor to the 28% reduction in our carbon emissions since 1990 has been the depth of the recession. I am glad that she is at last owning up to the impact that those on the Opposition Benches had on our economy. On the Ernst and Young report, we are determined to set a framework that provides certainty and clarity for investors, and we will do so particularly with the electricity market reform that we shall be announcing later.