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Energy: National Policy Statements

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing the debate on this policy statement. He said that this is a unique time in our legislative history and I believe that it has been a debate of some moment and of some passion. I particularly thank my noble friend Lord Jenkin for his superb, informed tour de force of a speech. When he sat down I thought how much he cares for these sceptred isles. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Liverpool gave us a Canute moment in regard to the danger of siting nuclear power plants on the coast at a time of rising sea levels. That will give us all food for thought. I am sorry that he will not be here for the second part of our debates. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, also waxed lyrical on his part of this sceptred isle. The Minister had visited it, which, in the view of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, made him a civilised and sensitive man. As I face the Minister over the Dispatch Box almost daily, I would agree that he is certainly that, even to his enemies. My farming friend Lord Dixon-Smith reminded us not to confuse weather and climate in our reading of what is taking place in our environment, unlike my noble friend Lord Reay who elegantly expressed his long-held view that nothing untoward is happening anyway. The noble Baroness, Lady Young, a most positive wildlife speaker in my view, said that she was on the limp side of this matter. I could not believe I would ever hear her say that she was on the limp side of anything. The noble Lord, Lord Chorley, spoke of the landscape and worried about localism. We also had two speakers in the gap, which I did not expect and the noble Lord, Lord Broers, the ever-practical engineer, talked about R&D and planning.