Queen’s Speech

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, for updating us on the floods in Cumbria. We on these Benches would like to extend our sympathy to those families who have lost their homes, to the many people who have lost their jobs, to the many others who are feeling insecure and to those who have lost family members. I should like to say how very sorry we are and how much it overshadows everything that we do here today, safe in London. While the floods in Cumbria cannot be directly attributed to climate change, the statistics show that the frequency and intensity of such events are increasing dramatically. The importance of preparing our country to withstand the effects of global warming, while making every effort to reduce carbon emissions and establish renewable energy sources, has never been clearer. My noble friend Lord Taylor, who will be speaking for these Benches on the Flood and Water Management Bill when it comes to this House, will focus on the necessary measures to be taken in the future. I look forward to hearing his remarks as he winds up for us on these Benches at the end of the debate and speaks on the environment, agriculture and local government. I thank the Secretary of State, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, for opening today’s debate on the gracious Speech with his usual wonderful enthusiasm. It was a valiant effort to talk up the Government’s legislative programme this Session, despite having very little material to work with, as witness 12 minutes on transport from a 21-minute opening speech, which he himself described as an odyssey. I shall focus primarily on energy and climate change matters. Looking at the list of 35 speakers, I anticipate a very interesting afternoon and evening listening not least to the maiden speech of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Lichfield, who I believe is to speak on agriculture, and that of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Blackburn, who I believe will speak on transport—a brace of Bishops to welcome to your Lordships’ House and to this debate today. I wish them well. However, I fear that many of my noble friends will share my disappointment at the draft Energy Bill, published last week, and at the lack of hard commitments that the Secretary of State, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, has been able to give us today. I am of course happy that we finally have before us for consideration provisions dealing with carbon capture and storage and a social tariff. What we have been given is largely welcomed, but there is not nearly enough here to reassure us that Labour has genuinely accepted the critical importance of addressing both the causes of climate change and the looming energy crisis. For the first 10 years in power, this Government swept both these enormously important issues under the carpet, leaving the United Kingdom falling behind the rest of the world in every area of energy security, from investing in renewable energy sources to providing sufficient gas storage. Over the past 12 years, we have seen 15 energy Ministers come and go, giving each of them an average of only nine months to get to grips with a complex and highly technical brief. It is no surprise then that, with such lack of focus in the Government, so little has been achieved. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, had the temerity to warn us recently that we were on the brink of a catastrophic future. It is this Labour Government who have brought us to this, with 12 years of denial, dithering and delay. Even now, when mounting evidence makes it impossible for Labour to continue to prevaricate any longer, their response is lacklustre and entirely inadequate. I can only hope that the Prime Minister will not be taking any of his party’s apathy to Copenhagen in December. The role that we must play as a developed country, and as part of the European Union, is a large one. We have a responsibility not only to lead by example but also actively to help less developed countries to find a way to combine economic growth and poverty reduction with responsible development. That will not be easy but there is a growing awareness around the world of the terrible consequences of the failure to act. Gordon Brown must resist any temptation to settle for a statement of intent or anything less than a rigorous, binding agreement to take meaningful action on an international scale; nor must this Government take the easy way out of blaming inaction at home on difficulties abroad. No matter what comes out of Copenhagen, we still have a responsibility to cut our own carbon emissions and develop alternative green energy sources. Getting meaningful policies out of the Labour Government has been like pulling teeth. Their commitment to the rollout of smart meters—something that they put on the front page of every publication coming out of the Department of Energy and Climate Change—was, as your Lordships will remember, accepted by Labour only because of a Conservative amendment to the Energy Bill in 2008 which would certainly have been won in this House. The proposals in this Session’s Energy Bill on carbon capture and storage are also long overdue. It is not just on legislation that the Government are taking a ridiculously long time to come to any sort of decision: it took two years of pressure before the Secretary of State for Energy released the planning guidance necessary for getting the next generation of nuclear power stations under way. It was not until the Government’s own analysis identified the very near certainty of power blackouts in the near future that they were able to take this controversial but absolutely critical decision. We welcome with relief the news that the Government have finally admitted that our country needs a high-speed rail link. From the way the Secretary of State tells it, the issue has only just come on to the agenda, but we have been calling for improved high-speed rail links since 2007. These proposals should have been introduced long ago. They would provide not only a stimulus to the economy in the north but a much needed, more attractive and greener alternative to driving or flying. I have covered what has been promised by the Government and turn now, finally, to what has not. Once again we are looking at an Energy Bill that fails to include so much that is necessary. By missing this opportunity the Government are wilfully delaying the programmes and schemes that are critical to reducing our carbon emissions, meeting our international commitments and ensuring a safe and affordable supply of energy for the United Kingdom. If the Government are serious about addressing our carbon emissions, their provisions on carbon capture and storage are only the tip of a very big iceberg. Their promises are also undermined by their past bungling of the Kingsnorth plant. I hope the Minister can give the House some assurances that that sort of bureaucratic dithering and delay will not happen again. Labour has brought forward no new ideas for encouraging renewable energy in this Energy Bill. We need new sources of renewable energy on line immediately, not in several years. Where is the diversity of energy supply by amending the regulatory regime to enable biogas production? Where is the freeing up of local authorities to establish renewable heating networks? Where is the establishment of marine energy parks to encourage innovation in promising sources such as tidal and wave power? These are such missed opportunities. The cruellest omission is the Government’s silence on fuel poverty. The social tariffs are good as far as they go—and I heard the Secretary of State’s promises today—but where are the necessary provisions to stop energy companies taking advantage of price fluctuations to make excessive profits when energy prices fall? We would introduce proper transparency into energy tariffs to allow homeowners to make sensible decisions over which plans are the most suitable for them. I hope that the Government will listen to our advice on this. As for real answers to the question of domestic carbon emissions, we would provide an entitlement for every home to have energy-efficiency work, and we would introduce a scheme to identify energy-efficient household goods. We would seek to help the public save money and reduce their carbon emissions. I hope that during the Bill’s passage the Government will listen to our advice on this as well. I have spoken long enough as many other noble Lords are waiting to contribute. Suffice it to say that, when the Energy Bill reaches this House, we will do our usual thorough job of scrutinising legislation and, I hope, make some improvements too. In the mean time, I look forward to hearing the rest of the debate and the response of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath.