Viscount Ridley: My Lords, did I say that it was not happening? Everything that the noble Lord, Lord Smith, has said about what has happened, I completely accept, but it does not say that it is happening faster than expected.
Viscount Ridley: My Lords, I declare my interests in various forms of energy as listed in the register. I cannot declare the probably seven-figure annual sum that I do not receive because I do not allow wind turbines on my land in a very windy part of Northumberland. I say that not to elicit the House’s sympathy, obviously, but to emphasise the point that the Government would be right to resist this...
Viscount Ridley: My Lords, I shall repeat the statement. Later in my remarks I shall come back and justify it. Climate change is happening more slowly than expected. Far from locking in highly expensive energy, as we are doing, we should be reconsidering the huge cost that we are afflicting the most vulnerable with to comfort the most comfortable. Offshore wind costs about four times as much as gas: £270 per...
Viscount Ridley: My Lords, we are taking about the same sorts of numbers. The percentage addition I am talking about is how much of the increase we shall see in future will come from energy subsidies. As I said, I took the figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Viscount Ridley: My Lords, it is a great privilege to speak after my noble friend Lord Borwick and to congratulate him on an eloquent and perceptive speech. I have known him for a little over a year but in that time we have become firm friends, despite the fact that we were briefly rivals on the hustings. He is, I venture to suggest, exactly the sort of successful and independent mind that the House of Lords...
Viscount Ridley: My Lords, is the Minister aware of evidence from New Zealand that e-cigarettes are extremely effective in getting people off tobacco cigarettes and that they are more effective than tobacco patches? Is it not important that in regulating e-cigarettes we do not discourage them from taking a considerable market share from tobacco products, given that vaping is clearly much safer than smoking?
Viscount Ridley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many micrograms per cubic metre of air of small particulates PM2.5 they expect to originate in 2020 from emissions from biomass combustion in the industrial generation of electricity and in domestic use, excluding any deduction from the gross total for emissions from fuels displaced by biomass.
Viscount Ridley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many milligrams of carbon dioxide they estimate are produced per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated from (1) coal, (2) oil, (3) gas, and (4) biomass, excluding any deduction from the gross total for carbon dioxide absorbed by growing vegetation.
Viscount Ridley: My Lords, I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Patel, on the timely nature of this debate, and it is an honour to follow the noble Lord, Lord Kakkar. They are a reminder of the great expertise that this House has on this subject. I have learnt a lot already this morning, and expect to continue to learn more. I am particularly struck by the consensus among the noble Baronesses, Lady Jolly...
Viscount Ridley: My Lords, can my noble friend explain why, for 20 years, a group of environmental activists has been allowed to deny the British consumer choice in this matter: the choice to buy GM crops if they prefer them because they think they are good for human health and the environment?
Viscount Ridley: My Lords, I begin by declaring an interest in coal-mining on my family’s property, as detailed in the register, but I shall not be arguing for coal today but for its most prominent rival, gas, in which I have no interest. I thank my noble friend the Minister for her courtesy in discussing the Bill and welcome the fact that the Government have grasped the nettle of energy policy, especially...
Viscount Ridley: My Lords, I wish to speak on the subject of energy and, in response to the prominent references in the gracious Speech, on the importance of economic competitiveness. However, as this is my first time speaking in the House, I hope that noble Lords will indulge me in a few preliminary remarks. It is an enormous privilege and a daunting responsibility to speak in this House for the first time....