---

UK Government's Energy Policy

Mr Caton, you have been extremely kind to me. We all know who won the battle between David and Goliath. Let me return to energy, which is the subject that I most wanted to talk about. I am a big supporter of the Government policy of reducing our requirement for carbon-based fuels. I have a slightly different reason for supporting it. I am not convinced that all of the temperature rises that have taken place over the past 250 years are a result of man-made carbon emissions. We have had warmer and colder cycles over the past 2,000 years. It was warmer when the Romans were here, then it got colder through the dark ages and then warmer again. It got cold during the little ice age. Coincidentally, the little ice age ended at about the time that we started to develop the steam engine and to industrialise. Therefore, the earth would have been getting warmer quite naturally anyway because we were coming out of a cold period. Most people who have looked at the facts would find it hard to disagree, unless Members think that we would still be in the little ice age, which most scientists think ended around 1650.