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Climate Change Bill [HL]

I support the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale. On the first day in Committee, the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan, gave us advance warning of what she was going to say in answer to these amendments. She said: "““It is worth recalling that each of the parliamentary committees that scrutinised the Bill agreed that binding annual targets were not suitable””.—[Official Report, 11/12/07; col. 221.]" I question that. The Environmental Audit Committee said in paragraph 118 of its report that, "““the Government should still set out an indicative target for UK emissions in each year, so as to apply continual pressure to reduce emissions””." The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, in paragraph 51 of its report, said that, "““we recommend that clear annual ‘milestones’ are set—and published—by the Committee on Climate Change in order that it may become apparent well before the end of a budgetary period whether or not policies are working””." The Joint Committee on which I served, in paragraph 69 of its report, said: "““We recommend that, in setting the level of future budgets, the Government should also provide indicative annual milestones to help assess progress on an annual basis””."