Clause 39
Greater London Authority Bill
9:30 am
Michael Gove (Shadow Minister (Housing), Communities and Local Government; Surrey Heath, Conservative)
What a pleasure it has been to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. O’Hara. Conservative Members wish to associate ourselves entirely with the comments of the Minister. You have been a gentle and helpful Chairman and, speaking for my part, it will be a great pity that we shall not be serving under your chairmanship after this morning’s sitting. Thank you very much.
Our amendment was tabled in a constructive spirit, as the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington explained. We are broadly in agreement with the principles behind the enhancement and clarification of the Mayor’s role in combating climate change. The Minister made an appropriate reference to the roiling waters of the Thames outside and to the inclement weather that we face today. On my way here this morning, I was listening to a debate on the “Today” programme between two advocates of different approaches to climate change, as I imagine were many hon. Members. One person was arguing that climate change was perhaps not as much due to man-made causes as might have been attested; the other was arguing that climate change was primarily an anthropomorphic phenomenon. For the benefit of the Committee, that means that we are responsible for it to a significant extent.
The scientific consensus, as attested by the intergovernmental panel on climate change, is that our problems of climate change are to a significant extent man-made. In the House, and across all parties, there is broad acceptance that man’s actions—and how, among other things, we produce CO2—are contributing to the greenhouse effect and therefore to changes in climate. As Nicholas Stern pointed out in his report, such changes will, if unchecked, cause dramatic and devastating effects on not only the quality of life of people in this country and elsewhere, but our future gross domestic product.
It has often been suggested that there must be a direct trade-off between action on climate change and economic growth. However, as Nicholas Stern pointed out, unless one takes prudent action to tackle climate change, our future economic growth and prosperity will suffer. Some who have rung the alarm bell on climate change are pressing on us policies that might well have a deleterious effect on economic growth. An appropriate balance has to be struck and appropriate sensitivities have to be respected. We recognise that a significant role has to be played by not only the national Government but international institutions.
Elsewhere in this House, there is lively debate about what the national Government can do through taxation. The Minister for Housing and Planning will be aware of the controversy attached to some of the Treasury proposals—those relating to the cost of flying, for example, have been criticised by some as doing too little and being insufficiently effective in targeting aviation emissions.
More broadly, attention has been drawn to the fact that while the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been in office, the proportion of taxation from environmental sources has declined. That has led my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) to describe the Chancellor as a fossil-fuel Chancellor in a carbon-conscious age.
However, we absolutely agree with one of the Government’s points: whatever steps one takes on taxation, international measures have to be taken as well. We must pay close attention to the whole principle of carbon trading. One of the questions that the whole House has to address is the fact that the current carbon trading system run by the European Union is not necessarily achieving the goals that it should. Trenchant criticisms of the emissions trading system have been made by the think-tank Open Europe. They relate to the fact that public sector institutions have had to pay a significant amount into the system, while some major energy companies have succeeded in making a profit from it.
I would be interested in the Minister’s view on how, for example, NHS institutions could be more effectively protected and safeguarded in respect of the operation of the carbon trading system. A number of people think that money allocated to the NHS or other public services should not be used—as it has been under the carbon trading system—effectively to enrich energy companies. Any guidance that the Minister could give us on how London’s taxpayers and public services could be better shielded in an enhanced carbon trading system will be appreciated.