Climate Change Bill [HL]

I urge the Minister to regard this amendment as an entirely honourable and almost noble attempt to strike a balance in an extremely difficult area. I want to add one argument to those of my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours, who I agree with entirely. Let us remember that the people principally affected by this Bill are the young. They are going to demand a different kind of politics, and I think that what this amendment attempts to do, not unsuccessfully, is to strike the type of balance that the young will be seeking. We will be asking for behavioural change from them in the form of changes in attitude towards the environment and changes in thinking about their futures. I do not believe that all that can be achieved through a determinist position by any Government, and I identify completely with the quotation used by my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours. I hope that the Prime Minister meant what he said to the Liaison Committee because he is spot-on: politics will not continue to be done as it has been in the past, and this Bill is a litmus test of how far the Government are prepared to advance in changing the very nature of politics.