Climate Change Bill [HL]

I thank all noble Lords for taking part in this debate. It certainly livened everybody up. Noble Lords looked terribly bored before, but I have got some daylight saving into this Chamber tonight. I am taking this particularly seriously. I take the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, to task on this. This is not a light-hearted matter for many people. A few facts may clarify the situation, and if the Minister wants more evidence, I am sure that we can supply it. The difference between the time of daybreak in John o’Groats and in Land’s End is 50 minutes. There is no argument about that; that is the difference. There are regional differences, and I accept them. I realise that Scottish crofters in 1950 or 1960 perhaps had a rough deal, but I do not know that that is the case now. I have spoken to people about this and Members in the other place from Scotland have spoken strongly about it. My intention tonight was not to broaden this amendment into a debate on road safety—I know the facts—or about children going to and from school. Fewer children would die on the roads, because it is more dangerous coming home in the dark than it is going to school in the dark. Those are RoSPA’s figures, not mine. These are important issues. When I said that everybody would benefit, I meant they would benefit from the reduction in energy used in the whole country. This is a green issue. It is an important issue, not one that we should dismiss so casually and with such disrespect. I very much hope that we return to this debate and I hope that others will join in. I suspect that, in the fullness of time, we may well look back to a time when some of the proposals coming out of the climate change committee were more in tune with my proposals than with the opposition’s. I thank everybody for their contribution. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 30 agreed to. Clause 31 [General ancillary powers]: