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Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill

Yes, it is. It reflects the soft approach that the Bill takes. On reflection, I would have preferred what my hon. Friend has just said. I believe that the Secretary of State should be able to say that the target approach has not worked, but it would be much better if the Secretary of State were obliged to say why. This clause is a mixture of the good and not so good. Targets are worth trying, but my firm view is that they would be much better done on a regional basis rather than a national one. A national basis would conceal far too many variations to make the policy conclusions that might come from targeting of any use at all. I hope that serious thought will be given to my amendments, because otherwise we will be embarking on another useless round of aspirational target setting with very few policy outcomes.