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Energy Bill

No question from the noble Baroness is stupid, and that one certainly is not. I will be very careful in the answer that I give. Because this is such a delicate and important point, I wonder whether instead of just telling the noble Baroness what I think the answer is, it would be better if I wrote to her with an answer. As I understand it, there would, of course, be a look by the competition authorities to see whether this was competitively a good thing, but the Secretary of State could invite the competition authorities—the OFT—to look at the non-competition issues as well and report. Ultimately, it would be for the Secretary of State to decide whether—even if the competition side of it was okay, if the non-competition side was not, regarding national security—it would be within his power to take action. He would have to do it in a proportionate and reasonable way. That is probably an accurate answer, but the noble Baroness deserves more than that, which is why I intend to write to her if she will allow me to do so.