Schedule 3
Climate Change Bill [Lords]
2:00 pm
Anne McIntosh (Shadow Minister, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Vale of York, Conservative)
Schedule 3 goes into some detail. Not in the Bill or in primary legislation, but in secondary legislation, enormous powers will be given to the Secretary of State. The Government and the Minister ask us to take a great deal on trust, and I wonder whether the Orders in Council will cover such matters. For example, if the Secretary of State proceeds with personal carbon accounts, will that be subject to Orders in Council? If we proceed down the path of personal carbon accounts for England, will they therefore also exist in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
I make this point in every Committee that I attend, but the point of standing for Parliament and serving on Committees is that we are given the opportunity carefully to scrutinise the enabling powers. When such far-reaching, wide powers are placed on trust in the Secretary of State, we have effectively devolved responsibility to the Secretary of State without the opportunity to scrutinise the Orders in Council and the powers therein.
I think that the Minister said earlier that such measures will be subject to affirmative procedures and resolution, but if that scenario was to appear in relation to personal carbon accounts, would such accounts apply, by Orders in Council, to the whole United Kingdom? I am personally slightly sceptical about personalised carbon accounts, but industry, the CBI and a number of other bodies have spoken on a number of occasions about their concerns that business will be asked to take the lion’s share of pollution and emissions-reducing measures. My question is a probing one about the enabling legislation.