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Energy Bill

This has been an interesting discussion. The noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, spoke at length about biomethane from manure, which surprised me slightly because if you do not return manure to the soil, you have to use artificial manure. On the farm where I live, all the manure is returned to the soil. I know that dairy farmers have to get rid of a great deal of slurry, but it is strange to hear the Liberal Democrats, who are so green, suggest that manure should not be returned to the soil but be turned into biomethane. The uses for manure are rather limited. The noble Lord confused us by talking about flatulent sheep in New Zealand. That is a different issue and concerns how methane gets into the atmosphere. We have a responsibility to try to alter what cattle eat so that less methane is released into the atmosphere, but that is a different point.