Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

Amendment 85A would insert a little more detail into the Bill. I am very grateful to the Minister for his very full explanation of an MPS, how it will evolve and the background against which it will be considered. I hope he sees this as an opportunity to elaborate on the somewhat more truncated debate that we had just before dinner. Marine policy statements, which are established in Clause 42, are apparently intended to contain the answer to several questions that we have already asked the Minister about how the relevant bodies will balance the competing interests of those involved in the marine environment. Much as our Amendment 33 highlighted the working of the Marine Management Organisation, the policy authorities that we are considering now are, of course, subject to similar conflicting advice and lobbying from various stakeholders. As with the MMO, the priorities that policy authorities will give to the various interests are of the utmost importance to those who have an interest in this area. The Government have laid out some of their intentions in the glossy publications that are littering my desk—it is not difficult to litter my desk as it is littered most of the time—but priorities can be changed and pamphlets can be reprinted. Ministers and Governments come and go, as we know. Government press releases in no way replicate the certainty and security that clearer legislation would provide. The two concerns highlighted by the amendment—reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring the security of our energy supply—have both been very much in the forefront of people’s minds recently. With the recent difficulties over gas supplies from the Ukraine, our warnings about the vulnerabilities of our energy network are finally finding a more sympathetic audience on the Benches opposite. Energy security has risen up the Government’s agenda. Similarly, the Government have recently come round to a more accurate appreciation of the importance of addressing climate change. But this may not last. Once people start turning off their central heating for a few months, or once the taxes that this Government will impose to pay for their solutions to the credit crunch start to bite, those priorities will be replaced by others. If the Government allow their commitment to addressing climate change to be weakened, it will be disastrous. The Government are relying on private investment into the energy market to supply the secure, low-carbon energy we need. Without legislative certainty, how can the Minister expect businesses to stump up the cash that is needed? Investors will be looking for commitment that is enshrined in law. The list of areas which the policy authorities should rightly be forced to have regard to is much longer than the two I have laid down. Indeed, if we go back to Amendment 33, we see a list of some 10 factors. I do not seek to write the detail of marine policy statements in these amendments, but the two that I have indicated are key factors which the MPS should be obliged to address. It is an opportunity to enshrine these two factors into the legislative process that we have today. Notably, the Government have commitments in the area of marine conservation as well, but the two I have highlighted link up with two of the Government’s recent Acts—the Climate Change Act and the Energy Act—and because of commercial uncertainty, they particularly need legislative safeguards. These amendments link these two important Acts, which we supported. The lack of any detail in the Bill on current and future government policy will be counterproductive and will make any government commitment to a meaningful marine policy weak and susceptible to change. I beg to move.