---

Fuel Poverty Bill

Only international intervention would decouple the relationship. Up to now, it seems to have suited the consumer countries and the producer countries to go along with the private sector in agreeing to a totally absurd arrangement. The biggest problem was probably the United States, which is usually seen as a consumer of oil and gas, but it is also a major producer, and it is somewhat ambivalent in these matters, to say the least. The previous presidential regime was, in effect, the political wing of the oil and gas industry so no common sense was likely to come about. It would be very difficult for an individual country to break the link. As with so many things these days, we need some sort of international agreement. In short, I broadly support the Bill. There may be defects in the drafting, but every Bill that has ever been brought before the House has had something wrong with the drafting, including those that I introduced. We must accept that, and there should be no crowing by anybody about a few defects in the drafting of a private Member's Bill. That is and always has been the case with all Government Bills as well. That is why we have Committee and Report stages and why the House of Lords gets a look at Bills. However, the proposals that we are discussing will not work unless we get a grip on the price that people have to pay for their fuel and power, and we are a long way short of doing that.