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UK Government's Energy Policy

The right hon. Gentleman takes me further down the road: there is nothing to prevent an application from being made or a private company from coming forward. That will be looked at in the proper fashion. He also fails to realise that, whatever happens in relation to the granting of permission to any proposed scheme, it will not come on stream until well after the 2020 carbon reduction targets to which we are committed. It is right, therefore, that the Government should concentrate on those plans and schemes that would contribute to the targets in the first place, rather than on something in the future. I repeat that there is nothing to prevent a private consortium from coming forward with plans, and they would be considered just like any others.