Lord Fuller (Con)

I thank the noble Earl, but he will forgive me for having made an introduction, and now I come immediately to the substance, because what we have heard, and it came from the Minister’s mouth, is that this is all about investor confidence. This is about subsidy farming; this is about underwriting the most emitting power station in Britain, Drax, which is responsible for the desecration of huge tracts of forestry on the other side of the world, the shipping costs associated with getting it and its transport to that power station, as if it is somehow renewable. That is a fantasy. What these regulations underpin is a false economic market that says, “No matter how high the gas price is”, and, my goodness, gas prices are high now, “we’re going to bid up the costs of renewables in an unearned income”. This is financial engineering. We are kidding ourselves that we are doing this for low carbon. We are creating a false market in unproductive assets such as carbon capture and storage. When we invest in carbon capture and storage, and I use the word “invest” advisedly, we are not investing in productive assets that will generate an economic return; we are just burying money, money that we need. I do not deny that, as a result of this regulation, the authorities—forgive me, there are so many acronyms, I cannot remember them all, the LCCC and so forth—have to be paid for. However, this debate has exposed that it is not just about paying for the authorities, it is about financing a mission creep into all sorts of areas that collectively and cumulatively are driving the cost of our energy. Householders are paying more and industry is paying more—and, candidly, industry is now voting with its feet to go to other parts of the world because it cannot afford all this. At some stage, we need to draw a line. I am grateful that the Minister has used the word “crisis” to describe the circumstances currently being visited on the Middle East and, by extension, on our own economy. When the facts change, you need to alter your position, and when it comes to this panoply of extra burdens on industry—not least contracts for difference—we need to have a fresh look, because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the outcome to change. This nation cannot afford it, and neither can our industry or our householders. Clearly, we are going to note this statutory instrument, but at some stage the music needs to stop.