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Planning and Energy Bill

I am trying to get across to the House—I am sure that you will correct me if I digress, Mr. Deputy Speaker—the fact that this important private Member's Bill was held up in its previous stages and could not be concluded until we had the PPS in place before Christmas, as well as explaining the overlap and why these two pieces of work have to mesh closely together. I will endeavour to do that without going away from the principles of the Bill and why it is so important. The Government welcome the proposals that I outlined as a good starting point. We have been set very challenging targets by the EU, as our existing share is less than 2 per cent.—lower than that of most other member states. However, I believe that the Bill will help us in our journey to get closer to these targets. The UK is completely committed to meeting our share, which will be decided along with other member states' shares in negotiations over the coming months.