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Climate Change Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for recognising some of the difficulties that are consequent upon this. That interpretation of his Amendment No. 47B does not detract from the Government’s case, which I have been putting. In fact, it largely follows the line of thinking that I have sought to express. However, we already have this framework in the Bill. The noble Lord’s amendment would not give us any additional flexibility. In fact, we have a slightly greater definition than we are prepared to accept at this point, but I do not think that the positions of the Government and the noble Lord are that far apart. He properly recognises that a considerable amount of additional work needs to be done in consultation. I hear the pleas on all sides. The noble Baroness, Lady Young, would not be in her place if she was not concerned to speed the Government’s processes and I accept the point that she made. I am merely indicating that the Government need flexibility with regard to this issue. We know that we have to legislate with precision. The whole point of secondary legislation is to fulfil that role. In such an important Bill as this, it would be wrong to insert precision which is not accurate and which we cannot defend. At the same time, it is essential that we have a framework on which we can make considerable progress. I do not think that the Government’s proposals are vastly different from that of the noble Lord. Having heard how close we are to his thinking, I hope that he will not feel it necessary to divide the House on such a limited disagreement.