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Climate Change Bill [HL]

My Lords, we support the amendment tabled by my noble friend and, indeed, we are pleased to see that the Government have taken this matter on board and tabled another amendment to a similar effect. Both amendments provide for corrective action if targets are not met. However, Amendment No. 22 has the benefit of requiring action as soon as it appears that things are slipping and refers to what should be done if, "““it appears from the annual statement””" that targets will not be met. So, if things are going wrong after year 2 or 3, corrective action can be put in place immediately, rather than, as in the Government’s amendment, Amendment No. 81, corrective action taking place only after the five-year budget period. My noble friend Lord Caithness said that the date in the Bill was 31 May in the second year following. That seems a long time before anything can actually happen. That is an unfortunate aspect of the Government’s amendment. I would be grateful if the Minister would have another look at this and see if he can combine the best parts of both amendments, so that corrective action can take place anyway at an earlier stage than that proposed in the Government’s amendment.