Clause 78
Climate Change Bill [Lords]
Public Bill Committees, 8 July 2008, 4:49 pm
Martin Horwood (Shadow Minister (Environment), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Cheltenham, Liberal Democrat)
I will speak briefly. I sense that the amendment was not drafted in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, but that it might have originated somewhere rather closer to No. 11 Downing street. It has the sniff of Treasury bean counting about it. When considering the pros and cons of offsetting, the Treasury has been remarkably immune to environmental arguments. However, at the prospect of Ministers squirreling away funds for their disposal outside of Treasury control, it has suddenly become interested.
This is an interesting amendment that may be technically and legally necessary and I shall not oppose it. I would be interested to hear the Minister’s response on its origins and the rationale for it in relation to the Treasury.