moved Amendment No. 4:
4: Clause 1, page 1, line 5, leave out ““Secretary of State”” and insert ““Prime Minister””
The noble Lord said: I shall speak to Amendments Nos. 19, 65, 79, 88 as well; each is substantially in the same spirit as Amendment No. 4. Many noble Lords have stated that the Bill is unique, and therefore sets a precedent. I am sure that the Minister will say that it is the convention that securing the target and being responsible for it being met is dealt with by the Secretary of State of whichever department is in charge of the target. However, as the Minister said on the previous group of amendments, the problem is that this issue touches every department. From Defra to the Ministry of Defence, there is not a department that will not have to deal with it in a ministerial capacity, and on an individual basis, each department will have to look carefully at how it deals with its carbon allocation and reduces it.
We are talking about a 60 per cent reduction at the moment; further amendments propose an 80 per cent reduction of carbon dioxins from the 1990 levels. We should not underestimate the complexity of reaching that level. It is a 60 or 80 per cent reduction not just in the generation of electricity, but in use of carbon for every one of us—individually and personally—every company in the country and every department. That will be extremely difficult, because it will cover everything—flights, transportation, heating, lighting, the way we build and manage our homes, and the type of food we eat and where it comes from.
The issue should not be looked at just in this country. The right reverend Prelate mentioned the first carbon war, in Darfur, although some other regions have been affected. John Howard might be the first prime ministerial casualty, as the election in Australia was fought on the basis of the drought. The fundamental underlying feature of that drought was climate change, which brought about its severity. Is it conceivable that a Secretary of State—at the moment, I believe that it is the Secretary of State from Defra, but the Minister can say whether it could move to another department—will have the clout and ability to impose incredibly strict and harsh limits and regimes on every aspect of government and individual life? That will not be the case. The buck has to stop with the Prime Minister.
It will not be too long before each Prime Minister who comes into office will be judged to a degree by a significant proportion of the electorate on their ability to reduce carbon and mitigate the effects of climate change, which will become all too apparent for every one of us. We only have to look at the summer, when the Environment Agency became the fifth emergency service, defending infrastructure such as electricity stations, to see how each department will have to come to the fore. Of course, we have just had a Statement on schooling. I was at a meeting last night discussing the Severn barrage with a large company that deals with large contracts. The point made clearly to me was that the worst culprit of any client in thinking about mitigating the amount of carbon in any project at the moment was the Government. The cultural change has to take place from top to bottom, and only the Prime Minister can achieve that aim.
The noble Lord, Lord Taylor, raised this issue at Second Reading as one of concern to the Conservative Benches. I very much hope that they will support the amendment, and that it will command consensus throughout the Committee. I beg to move.
Climate Change Bill [HL]
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Redesdale
(Liberal Democrat)
in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 11 December 2007.
It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL)
and
Debate on bills on Climate Change Bill [HL].
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
697 c150-1 
Session
2007-08
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