Communities and Local Government/Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The hon. Gentleman is right that that danger exists, but capping and trading are devices that require enormous boldness from Government and great care in getting the trading mechanism and the price for carbon right. Various versions of such trading are possible. For example, there are at present versions of trading in landfill allowances, and packaging regulations are a form of trading. Sector by sector, the various versions enable capping and trading to work well. The overall principle must be that the amount of carbon emitted is inexorably drawn down by the capping and trading mechanism.