Clause 61
Climate Change Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Anne McIntosh (Shadow Minister, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Vale of York, Conservative)
My questions pertain directly to clause 61 and this part of the Bill, but they also have relevance to other measures in the Bill.
The Government stated in their command paper on the draft Bill that the legislation places a legal duty on the Government to ensure that the UK meets its targets and stays within the limits of its carbon budgets. Clause 61 gives the Secretary of State a duty to
“publish the report in such manner as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.”
Subsection (1) states:
“A reporting authority must comply with any directions under section 60.”
Will the Minister explain how the Government could be required to take remedial action by order of a court? Will the directions of the Secretary of State be justiciable and legally enforceable? Will they be subject to judicial review?
If the Bill—particularly clause 61 and, indeed, the whole part on adaptation—is to have legal effect at all, it is important that there should be a possibility of a challenge. This relates to some of the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury. In its report on the draft Bill, the Select Committee said that if what the Government seek to achieve is to mean anything at all, there should be legal sanctions and the possibility for a case to be taken before a court of law.