Climate Change Bill [HL]

The noble Baroness, Lady Billingham, is very eloquent; she was very eloquent in committee and she has been charming and eloquent tonight, as is her wont. However, after what my noble friend Lord Lyell said, I thought that I should say a few words. There is no doubt that this will be gruesomely hard for everyone; climate change will have that effect. If a small number of us are to be penalised, please do not insult us by saying that everyone will benefit. I was a little surprised that the noble Baroness, Lady Billingham, said that there would be a saving for every person in the UK. That is totally untrue. There will be a considerable extra cost to the economy of the north of Scotland because of the geographical situation of the British Isles, the way in which the sun moves and the curvature of the earth. The noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, said that every young person and every old person will benefit, but that is not true. That is totally false. There is no doubt that it will benefit some in the south, and if the great majority want to impose this on the north, that is democracy and that can happen, but please do not insult us by saying that we shall all benefit from it because clearly we will not. Farmers, schoolchildren, the old and those going to work will all have a much harder time because of the earth’s curvature and the geographical situation of the UK.