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Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill

In that case, I shall criticise my right hon. Friend for tabling amendments that might result in unintended consequences. As soon as we refer in legislation to regions—particularly given the Government’s attitude to regions and the Deputy Prime Minister’s promotion of them even when they have been rejected by regional referendums—that will be used to bolster the regional agenda. The next development will be the idea that in order to police the regional targets, or even determine what they should be, it we need an elected regional assembly of people who are accountable to the region. One can imagine just such an argument developing. That is why I am instinctively against such a provision. My right hon. Friend and I were members of a Government who naively thought that devolving some Government offices to the regions would bring the administration of government closer to the people, without setting up regions within the context of the European Union regions. I am afraid that however well intentioned that proposal was, it has resulted in a regional culture developing. My constituency is right on the border between one region and another, and is closer to the London region than to the centre of the south-west region, let alone the south-east region, and we feel strongly there that regionalism and all that it involves is bad news rather than good news. That is my concern about the regional targets, although I accept that my right hon. Friend says that regions could be defined in another way. I suppose that he has in mind an area larger than an individual local authority area.