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Climate Change Bill [Lords]

I have a good deal of confidence in the Climate Change Committee, but that Committee does not make the decisions—the Government do. The question lies with that final link in the chain. I make no apologies for egging—not over-egging—this pudding because we need the Government to take the conclusions of the Climate Change Committee seriously. I hope that they will have listened to the arguments that we, and others, are making, and will come up with something tough on the need for domestic effort. Ministers have started to say that we can do all sorts of things because we live in an emissions-trading world and it does not matter. That is profoundly worrying. The Climate Change Committee may well be sound, as the hon. Member for Morley and Rothwell (Colin Challen) suggests, but Ministers are a little unsound on these matters, which is why I stress my point. Amendments Nos. 17A and 17B offer marginal reassurance. I hope that when the Committee reports, the Government will take it seriously, as the hon. Gentleman suggests. I hope that the Secretary of State will ensure that Ministers do not ever say that something damaging to the environment does not matter because we can trade it away. It does matter. That is how Government are starting to talk, and I believe that it has to stop.