Finance Bill

That is certainly the case. I heard a claim the other day—I do not know whether it is true, but it is the typical sort of figure that one hears in the House—that we have less rain per capita than Sudan. We do not have much rain in this country, especially in England and, in particular, in East Anglia. Geographers count large parts of East Anglia as a desert, in terms of annual rainfall. We have to use that rain carefully. We already do a good job in recycling water. People were shocked in Australia recently by a proposal to use grey water, but we found it extraordinary that that should be so new to them. To make the best use of such approaches, we need not only the regulatory and planning regimes, but some fiscal incentives. The Government are actively pursuing a policy of adaptation to climate change, but they should do more, including fiscal incentives. If I may be allowed a personal advertisement, I proposed a private Member’s Bill on climate change adaptation, which was the first climate change Bill in this Parliament. It would have required the Government to report annually to Parliament on what had been done to adapt for climate change. I am pleased to say that, broadly, that has been incorporated in clause 37 of the Climate Change (Effects) Bill. However, annual reporting of adaptation is not by itself enough. It is part of greater transparency, but we need to make progress. Some great work is being done by the Oxford-based UK Climate Impacts Programme, which gets a paltry £800,000 a year from the Government. I have visited the programme, been to its conference and talked to the staff, and it does great work, but we need to produce the big changes in behaviour and adaptation before it is too late. As the right hon. Member for Wokingham said, 7 million people will be at risk of flooding in London, although those who built the Thames barrier were far-sighted and it is being used much more frequently now. As I understand it, a new Thames barrier will be needed, although I am not an expert on London and the south-east, because I am a west midlands MP. I pick up such information because it is the capital of our country and we cannot let it drown, even though—or perhaps because—that would make Birmingham the capital of England. Seriously speaking, we cannot let London drown, so we need to push forward adaptation measures. As we saw with the change to unleaded petrol, measures in the Finance Bill have a big role to play in change. They could have a big role to play in emissions and their causes, and mention has been made of vehicle excise duty, although the Bill does not go far enough. Such measures as are included are very welcome, but we need more to encourage adaptation to climate change, because that is the one thing that the UK can control whereas the level of emissions is subject to the winds of change in the world.