Keir Mather

I take the point the hon. Member makes, and the point that he made earlier about the basic issue of equity for British citizens, irrespective of which part of the United Kingdom they live in. That being said, it is incumbent on me in my ministerial capacity to work within the framework of the regulations that have been set. Unfortunately, if they are too narrow to facilitate the interpretation that he advises us to make. I am afraid that that is the reality of the situation, but that is why it is all the more important that we find ways to engage together to solve these challenges. That is certainly what I want to do, following this debate. Since last year, Artemis Technologies and other stakeholders have taken forward activity as a result of their successful bid to the Department’s clean maritime demonstration competition fund round 6. The Department provided £750,000 to enable a feasibility study to ascertain whether Artemis’s technology could provide a viable solution for an island route passenger service, particularly in the winter months, when residents have no regularly scheduled water crossing. We expect to hear the results very soon. The UK emissions trading scheme will be extended to cover UK domestic voyages and all UK in port emissions for vessels of 5,000 gross tonnage and above from July 2026. I can assure the hon. Member that we have assessed that these criteria are not met for the Scillonian IV or the Scillonian III. Both remain outside the scope of the UK ETS, and the exemptions and threshold will be reviewed in 2028.