Energy Bill completes Commons passage with overwhelming majority
The Energy Bill completed its Third Reading and now moves to the House of Lords
Press notice: 13/057
Reacting to the 396 for versus 8 against vote on the Third Reading of the Energy Bill in the Commons, Secretary of State Edward Davey, said:
“The positive vote for the Energy Bill is one of the biggest majorities this Government has seen.
“This overwhelming majority is great news as the Bill now makes its way through the House of Lords.
“A clear message has been sent to investors that we are providing the security they need to work with us to revolutionise the energy sector and produce cleaner energy, keep the lights on and people’s bills down.”
Commenting on the earlier debate and vote on the 2030 decarbonisation target, Edward Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said:
“There are clearly differing views on setting a 2030 decarbonisation target for the power sector, but we are pleased that the House has chosen to support our position today.
“It makes sense to legislate now to enable us to set a decarbonisation target range in 2016, once we’ve decided the level of economy-wide emissions reductions that will have to be achieved by 2030 under the 5th Carbon Budget.
“This means that a target would not be set in isolation but in the context of considering the pathway of the whole economy towards our 2050 target, and making sure we do that in a way that minimises costs both to the economy as a whole and to bill payers.
“Regardless of this, we’re already bound by law to cut emissions across the whole UK economy by 50% by 2025, and the Energy Bill will bring about substantial decarbonisation of the power sector as part of that.
“Long term contracts for low carbon will give renewables, nuclear and CCS the chance to compete against conventional power stations, and will be backed by a tripling in support for clean energy technologies by 2020.
“The Bill will ensure that we produce cleaner energy, keep the lights on and people’s bills down.”