Energy Bill

My hon. Friend is a distinguished commentator on the coal industry, and he is clearly correct. Coal offers us flexibility and an opportunity for security of supply. It is one of the most flexible ways of providing electricity, so we clearly need to consider gasification. All I say to the Minister is this: if we believe that coal—including indigenous coal—has a future, we should not argue about the economics of the matter, but find solutions that involve burning coal cleanly in an environmentally sensitive way. That brings me to carbon pricing. The carbon market is all over the shop at the moment. The European Union's emissions trading scheme is in its infancy, and until investors in future planning have clarity about the price of carbon—a high and stable price, into the future—we will not see investment. I have nothing against nuclear power in principle. There is a case for replacing nuclear with nuclear, but I have worries about the practicalities and whether it will happen. Energy companies have had the opportunity and the ability to make new nuclear proposals for many years. We could do more with planning and licensing, and ensure that the nuclear installations inspectorate has a sufficient number of people working for it, but unless the economics of nuclear power are right, we will not see the certainty necessary for investors to invest in the new nuclear industry. I think that the Government accept that. I was particularly struck by the conclusions after paragraph 2.66 in the nuclear White Paper:"““The Government is committed to working to strengthen the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme…and to building investor confidence in a long-term multilateral carbon price signal.””" We can all agree with that, but the following sentence is revealing:"““We will keep open the option of introducing further measures to reinforce the operation of the EU ETS in the UK should this be necessary to provide greater certainty for investors.””" What does that mean? I think that it means that if the ETS does not work out, the Government are prepared to offer a guarantee for carbon, to ensure that there is a hedge price for it. That does not sound to me like a market operating in traditional terms. I hope that we will have the opportunity to examine that issue in Committee.