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Energy Providers

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. I know that the Minister heard what my hon. Friend said and may well be at the reception that he is hosting. There are some important measures that we need to take pretty speedily. Carbon capture and storage is one, because it would allow us to deal with the crisis that will arise between 2012 and 2016 with the simultaneous closure of some of the coal-fired stations and nuclear stations. We therefore need a technology that we can use to reduce emissions, because if the gap is filled by gas-fired stations, it will not reduce CO2 emissions. Those emissions will increase, and we could eventually have gas-fired stations, nuclear stations and renewable input, and yet produce a greater amount of emissions because of our emphasis on gas-fired stations. Given that we are likely to be importing 80 per cent. of the gas that we use in the UK by 2018, the Minister might consider putting a cap on the number of gas-fired stations that we will allow in the energy economy.