I thank everyone who has taken part in the debate; I really appreciate it. I have been struck by how well Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been represented in it. I regret that there have not been more speeches from Government Members, because debating the purpose of our economy is surely the most important thing we could be doing. We will have big debates about how we get to the outcome that we all agree we want, but it is rather strange that there are not more people here from the Government side to have that debate.

I appreciate the Minister’s warm words, but there is a vast gap between what she is saying and what the Government are doing. Let us take one simple way of looking at this. A report comes out from the Treasury called “HM Treasury Outcome Delivery Plan”. It is the key departmental document setting out priority outcomes and activities. It has just one paltry mention of climate and just one reference to decarbonisation. It makes no mention at all of biodiversity, but it has 17 mentions of growth. The Government are still subsidising fossil fuels annually to the tune of around £12 billion, and there is still on the statute book a duty to maximise the economic recovery of oil and gas.

There is so much to be said in such a short amount of time, but I urge the Minister to look again at what all of us have been saying in the debate. We should not simply revert to the old idea that growth is somehow the best way to address the kind of poverty that Rebecca Long Bailey spoke about. Redistribution is a far more effective way of getting resources to those who need them. It is a convenient myth that if we keep growing the cake, those at the bottom of the pile will eventually get some. Well, they will have to wait a hell of a long time; and by the time they get it, the planet will be pretty much stuffed.

We need to shift to a greener economy right now. This does not have to be a party political issue; it was David Cameron who started talking about gross domestic happiness, and Sir John Hayes has spoken eloquently —and surprisingly—about moving away from the myth of the ever-increasing economy. I ask the Minister to please look at bringing forward new measures of economic wellbeing along the lines of those that many of us have suggested. She could have them alongside GDP, if she does not want to replace GDP.

I say to Mr McFadden on the Labour Front Bench that there is a big difference between having low or no growth in a recession and a planned transition to a more stable, steady-state economy. I urge him to read such books as “Prosperity Without Growth” by Professor Tim Jackson, which absolutely sets out the way forward on this.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House
has considered a wellbeing economy approach to meeting climate goals.

Sitting adjourned.