Clause 36
Energy Bill
6:15 pm
Steve Webb (Chair of the Election Manifesto Group, Cross-Portfolio and Non-Portfolio Responsibilities; Northavon, Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful for that very full intervention. I will not repeat myself, but I do not understand why those Welsh projects that are about to come on stream, or whatever the verb is, have not come under the scope of the fund. Perhaps they did not think that they needed it. My sense is that these things still need subsidy, so I am intrigued that they do not need it, but perhaps we can park that for a second.
All I am saying is that this is a continuum. My argument is not that we simply take the money and do exactly the same as all the other things are doing. That would just be duplication. There is a gap, according to my analogy. I am urging the Minister to take one step back in the continuum. The runner from behind might then be able to hand on the baton and we might achieve what we all want to achieve. I am not wholly reassured that the Minister has satisfied us on that point.