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Energy Bill

I declare an interest, in that I chair a company that advises firms on the provision of renewables and sensibly managed, environmentally friendly products. That gives me the advantage of knowing a little about the issues. I thank the Minister for this group of amendments, and also for other developments that have occurred during the Bill's passage. I hope that the House recognises just how complex the issues will be, and how easy it is to distort the future simply by getting the legislative parameters very slightly wrong. The Minister has been extremely helpful, as was his predecessor, in ensuring that we have a fit-for-purpose Bill to deal with what are sometimes considered to be boring details. I thank the Minister particularly for the measures relating to offshore electricity. The issues that arose in my constituency, where one of the largest offshore wind farms in Britain happens to connect with the grid within a nuclear power station complex, showed me just how complicated such matters can be. I hope the Minister accepts that we shall probably have to return to these issues much sooner than we would normally wish to do so, simply because the technology and the circumstances are moving so fast. It is because he has been willing to change right up to the last minute that I permitted myself my intervention on his speech. It is a case of keeping up with rapid change at a time when, as was pointed out by my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry), other countries too are moving very fast. We need to be fully competitive. I now find myself in the unusual position of being able to say thank you for a Bill that I think has been greatly improved by the amendments.