---

Energy: National Policy Statements

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his interesting intervention. We seem to have a collection of trousers down and gin and tonics. Where is the noble Lord, Lord Rix, when you need him? The noble Lord makes an interesting point about nuclear power. We have reflected in the Statement what my right honourable friend the Secretary of State refers to as the trinity of nuclear, renewables and clean fossil fuels. Clearly, to ensure energy security, we need to have a diversity of both supply and generation, and we need to have it in a drive towards a low carbon future. The mix that we are proposing will enable us to do that. On coal, I said earlier that if we are not able to develop CCS, there is absolutely no way that this country and many countries of the world, including China and India, can meet the kind of targets that have been set for 2050. That reinforces the importance of CCS and why we should adopt a leadership role in this country. Of course, there is a safeguard in the Statement. If as a result of the independent evaluation it transpires that CCS has not worked in the way that we wished it to work, we will have to return to the issue of what to do about existing coal-powered stations and their emissions. That will clearly be a subject for review towards the end of this century. I, for one, remain optimistic about CCS and its potential for this country.