Speeches by Miliband.

“I have huge respect for the right hon. Gentleman and completely concur with him on this issue. Nuclear is an essential part of our clean energy future. The demand for electricity in the years ahead—there will be a 50% increase by 2035, and demand will probably be double, if not more, by 2050—means that we need all the …”

“We will think of another birthday present for you. I think that what you say about this Committee playing an incredibly important role in this process of scrutiny is right and I genuinely welcome it.”

“You are right. We do not pay enough attention to them. The UN framework that we work within is done based on production emissions, partly because of issues of national sovereignty, but it is right. On Roz Savage’s Bill, it is one area that we said we would look at. It is also part of the industrial side of this because…”

“You make an important point. I suppose it is in less glowing terms because no country has done enough. It is more making the point about decoupling. The truth is that the power sector has seen a significant fall in emissions, but in the rest of the sectors—industry, agriculture, buildings, transport—we have significant…”

“I am sorry. These are matters of tax policy and they are definitely not matters for me. They are matters for the Treasury.”

“We are in injury time.”

“Yes. It goes back to the point I made earlier and I have always thought this, including 15 years ago when I was last doing this job. There are two edge positions, which are that people should never be flying and that we can carry on with total business as usual. I subscribe to neither position. The right position—and t…”

“There is public debate on these questions, but the Government will make their intentions clear at the appropriate moment. It is not helpful for me to speculate.”

“You are tempting, Chair. I have always thought that, but you will not tempt me into speculation on this question about Heathrow.”

“The council is just getting going and so we will make sure we look at that.”

“The National Energy System Operator has assessed this and thinks that it can absolutely be accommodated. It has an assessment going forward to 2030 and then assessments beyond that but there is more uncertainty beyond that. It believes, when you look at the scale of the demand, that it absolutely can be accommodated. H…”

“I will not get into specifics of particular airport projects.”

“I read that CCC wants to ensure that any decisions on aviation are taken within a carbon budget framework. That is the Government’s position.”

“Of course.”

“Yes, it can. I will be frank with you. On the decision about whether to build clean energy infrastructure, the climate crisis is a much bigger threat to the countryside and wildlife and biodiversity. It is a much bigger threat than solar farms or pylons. We have to have this debate because if you are worried about biod…”

“She is right about that.”

“I saw how the Chancellor was quoted on that and she has since made it clear that she believes that the two are absolutely consistent. I will be frank with you. She has been one of the biggest supporters of the clean energy mission and net zero. She has put it at the centre of her philosophy about how our economy grows.…”

“I am not sure I would put it that way. Even if you take account of our consumption emissions, our emissions have gone down. In other words, the 50% is measured based on production emissions, but consumption emissions have also fallen. I am not saying this infinite thing that you said, but the people who care about this…”

“It is interesting, Chris. You cite global figures, and I am sure they are right, but in the UK—I do not have the figures to hand—there has been a massive and stark decoupling of economic growth from carbon emissions. We have not grown nearly as much as we could have done as a country but while there has been economic g…”

“As if we have not become philosophical enough and more people are leaving. It is like people leaving the stadium.”