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Finance Bill

We will consider the subject that I mentioned later in our deliberations. In our amendments on homes, we share Conservative Members' analysis that the Government lack vision and ambition, but we go on to urge the Government to adopt a more visionary and ambitious set of policies rather than simply throwing up our hands in despair. It is worth sharing some statistics, which show the urgency of the position and the inadequacy of the Government's proposals. The current housing stock of 25 million homes in the United Kingdom accounts for around 27 per cent. of the country's total carbon emissions—approximately double the amount of carbon dioxide that cars in the UK produce. It is worth dwelling on that momentarily because transport gets singled out—not unfairly, because it is a major contributor to CO2 emissions. However, if one stopped the average person in the street and asked whether domestic households or transport was the much greater contributor to global warming CO2 emissions, the reply would overwhelmingly be, ““Transport.”” Yet the energy produced in our homes is a major contributor. [Interruption.] The hon. Lady says from a sedentary position that the public perception is that transport is not a major contributor to CO2 emissions. [Interruption.] The hon. Lady is giving a running commentary from a sedentary position. If she has something to say, she can intervene.