Speeches by Miliband.

“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.”

“We will look at that.”

“I am not aware of the details of what you are talking about. My colleague Steve Reed is committed to this agenda. He is working on the important land use framework, which people have talked about year after year and will happen quite soon. That is important. I will speak for myself, Chair. I want this annual statement …”

“I take seriously working with business, civil society and people across parties. I will be honest with you. I am not sure this is the kind of thing you normally say at a Committee. I lost at the election in 2015, as some of you may remember. One reason I am still in politics is I care so much about this issue, but I do…”

“We have to be slightly careful. I am not sure. The headlines can sometimes tell a different story to the truth. I do not accept that characterisation. When you think about how we build offshore wind nature-positively, there are ways to do it. We are thinking about the funds that can make that happen, including the deve…”

“That is an important question. This sense of mission is shared across the Government. I will come to nature in a second because it is important. When you think about clean energy and economic growth or net zero more broadly and economic growth, speeding up the building of our clean energy infrastructure is important an…”

“You, too. I pay tribute to both of you for the important initiative. I felt on coming to office that we have all this information in my Department about the climate crisis and DEFRA has a huge amount of information about the nature crisis, but we do not tell the country about it. The Met Office issues a report on clima…”

“In the interests of engagement and learning from this Committee, I am interested in your advice and thoughts on this. I will tell you my thinking. I want to pay tribute to Roz Savage and her co-sponsors for the work she did. One co-sponsor is in the room.”

“Lee wants to come in, but it is interesting. This may not be as widely known as it might be, but there are what we call effort shares for each sector. It is by sector rather than Department, for obvious reasons of interactions. This is an inheritance from the last Government. That is quite an important guide for Secret…”

“That question has two parts. On the first, it is very much part of the spending review process. I know from talking to the key Secretaries of State, and indeed working with Rachel Reeves and Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary, that we want this to be a mission-oriented spending review and that the missions get important…”