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Climate Change Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 43: 43: Clause 8, page 4, line 44, leave out ““with a view to meeting”” and insert ““to meet”” The noble Lord said: This is a small and straightforward amendment, but it goes to the core of the Bill. All Members of this Committee have said that this is a strategically important Bill, yet this clause, which covers such a core area as setting carbon budgets for the budgetary period, states that the carbon budget for a period must be set, "““with a view to meeting””," the targets in the Bill. That is a contradiction and completely undersells the importance of the targets. My amendment would simply remove, "““with a view to meeting””," so that the clause clearly states that the budget must meet the targets. It is an obvious point. I have managed reasonably well to elucidate all the complicated points that I have gone through in the past; on this one, I have completely failed. The clause needs to state that the budget should meet the targets and not have ““a view to”” meeting them. The current drafting undersells the purpose of the Bill. I am sure that the Government would agree with that. I beg to move.