I agree with the contributions from Northern Ireland. This order is discriminatory against Northern Ireland in favour of Scotland, and it will do considerable damage to consumers and business in Northern Ireland.
I also welcome the remarks of my noble friend Lord Moynihan, who told us that we are engaged in a much wider debate on this rather narrow instrument now that the Government are saying that this is an important part of the United Kingdom’s participation in a carbon border adjustment mechanism—or carbon tariff. They also wish to join the ETS at European level, in a carbon taxation scheme, which is even dearer than the United Kingdom one we have inflicted on ourselves. I urge the Government to think again. This has carried very badly in every part of the United Kingdom, represented here, that will be affected by it.
However, it is part of a much bigger error that government policy is creating. Over the last decade, the United Kingdom has been a world leader in reducing its CO2 output and has been dutiful to a fault to treaty obligations that actually relate to more distant years. As a result, we have seen a catastrophic deindustrialisation, which has gathered huge pace and momentum in the last two years with the intensification of the net-zero policies this Government have welcomed and introduced. To extend part of this system to the maritime sector would cause further damage.
Many years ago, I had the privilege to lead a big international industrial group. In those days, the group had its headquarters and most of its main factories in England. We were proud of that. We struggled to compete, but we did compete. Where we had a problem, we remedied the problem. We needed to raise our capital efficiency, so we had to spend money and investment on better plant. We needed to train our staff and use our staff better so that it was a better organisation. We stayed in the market, and we stayed producing. For example, we were responsible for a large part of the ceramic tile industry in the Potteries, with its very distinguished tradition of innovation—and domination, at times—in that very important market.
While I was there, we managed to make the investments and stay competitive enough, although the Italians were very good. I watched with sadness and shame as my successors gave up the battle through no fault of their own. At our current energy prices, we are so far away from being able to do even something relatively simple in industrial terms, such as making good industrial tile for all the homes with bathrooms and kitchens that need it. That is replicated sector by sector now.
We have heard the Green case, feeble as it is, briefly sketched today in this short debate. My response to that is that practically every policy initiative this country has taken to reduce its own CO2 has contributed to an increase in world CO2. Why on earth is that good for the environment, let alone good for our economy? We will not get our own gas out of the ground, and so we import LNG, which generates three or four times as much CO2 in the process than using our own. It is crazy, and we must stop doing this.
We need to have better-paid jobs and more investment in the United Kingdom. We need to rebuild our maritime industry. We heard from a very well-informed noble Lord, who told us that over his lifetime, supporting what was once a great industry, we have seen it almost disappear and vanish. This great maritime nation cannot now carry its own goods, because it did not create the right tax and regulatory conditions to sustain shipping in this country.
I urge the Government to think again. This is a small part of a big crisis. This is undermining our capacity to do well and make the things we need in this country. Dear energy is a killer. This is part of a package of measures that lumbers us with energy so dear we cannot make things for ourselves.
March 13, 2026
Well said, Sir John, but you seem to have forgotten one important thing which is that successive British governments have cared less and less about the future of Britain itself and her people and more and more about strutting the world stage trying to appear relevant and important. Theresa May, in a cynical quest for the ‘legacy’ so many political egos seem to think is their right simply for being a British MP or Prime MInister, condemned us to net stupid and the current Labour shambles has doubled down on the severe damage the policy is causing to our nation. The more it costs the people and the more damage it does to the nation, the happier our politicians are. The last Conservative government cared very little; Keir Starmer and his bunch of incompetents care not a single iota. Is it really only we mere mortals, the British taxpayers that are funding this hugely destructive vanity project, that can see through the ‘climate change’ scam for what it is?
March 13, 2026
Good morning John, how many Lords were present during this debate, not many to be sure. More to the point how many agreed with you.
You’re a voice in the wilderness and speeches will make not one iota of difference to the destruction this and the previous governments foisted upon us.
To admit they were wrong leaves them open to many legal challenges so they will plough on regardless.
I do hope when we get a proper patriotic government all these bad actors will be stripped of their assets and jailed.
Reply The speech is in Hansard and recorded here. I am proposing to promote it in other ways. The government had to sit and listen and respond. If you want to help instead of just moaning then do your bit to get these messages out.Re tweet my tweets. Copy the speech onto your social media.
March 13, 2026
I do try abs get the message out, with my friends we are all of the sane opinion. I try and rebut many Net Zero posts on Social media but there are so many who have been brainwashed at school and in Universities.
Just look at the following of the following of the breast whisperer to see the enormity of he problem.
March 13, 2026
“so many who have been brainwashed at school and in Universities” Indeed and so many more by the appallingly one sided net zero BBC and Ofcom who push these lies too. Just as they did with the neither “safe nor effective” COVID vaccines.
I am not convinced Polanski’s whispering added to the ENORMITY of the problems. If however he could hypnotise women to be happy/content with their breast sizes and not to have operations (unless there was a real medical need) that would surely have been a very useful service!
But there is loads of money to be made pushing (almost invariable net harm) cosmetic surgery and not so much in convincing people not to bother as they will rarely be any happier anyway. It is painful, not without risks and costs a fortune too. They would probably be far happier by helping some children in Africa by paying to deal with a few, life threatening, but treatable conditions with their money! Rather than moving up a cup size or two.
March 13, 2026
I am sure the other old folk on here have seen industry disappear, as well as the noble Lord.
British Steel, the coal industry, ICi all used to feature in a publication called the ‘Directory of Opportunities for Graduates’. Work was plentiful. It also kept some of the population out of mischief.
Other industries like Turner and Newell, that damaged the health of communities where they operated, are also gone. No loss there – apart from to the poor souls whose health they knowingly damaged with no penalties imposed on the firm itself.
It was not just expensive energy that did the damage though. Unlike other countries, there was no legislation or barriers to entry to prevent foreign takeovers.
North Sea oil revenues were used to defeat union power – but governments watched industrial wastelands emerge with no plan to address the issue. The famous photo of Thatcher encapsulated this.
Governments used to included politicians who had proper jobs. Some even did manual labour. Now we have pen pushers from quangos, city boys and spads who rose up through the system.
I have no idea how this situation can be turned around. Youngsters employment prospects are not great. They cannot afford home ownership. A large number of idlers now find they don’t need work to live.
March 13, 2026
Well as to home ownership you need fewer people or more homes or bother. To get the latter you relax planning hugely and relax the OTT net zero and other mad building regulations and taxes.
March 13, 2026
Did they really “knowingly” damage the health of their employees Peter?
Asbestos was originally thought to be safe and was used extensively as an excellent fire retardent product.
Can you hold them responsible for not knowing what no one else knew at that time?
March 14, 2026
Sam,
Yes. They withheld information about damage to health.
March 13, 2026
Good morning.
This is part of a plan. Not just to roll back BREXIT but to make it even harder and more expensive to unravel from the binds of the EU. Do anyone think that the EU would let us go back to being self governing for free ?
We need to know that we can LEAVE any agreement without any cost to ourselves.
March 13, 2026
We can be fairly confident that Starmer given his history will sign up to dynamic alignment with no exit without huge penalties. Look at the Chagos Lunacy how is his smashing the gangs and the growth, growth, growth lunacy coming on.
March 13, 2026
Rachael Reaves (after zero growth in January) – “there is more to do” have you not done quite enough damage already dear?
Also she warns she will not accept “wartime profiteering” as “crackdown on ‘rip-off’ fuel prices is launched”. Did she not claim to be an economist? Perhaps they do not cover supply and demand in PPE at Oxford or her LSE post grad. Higher prices are exactly what is needed to increase supply from the other sources so as to help resolve the lack of sufficient supply.
So how exactly is she going to “not accept wartime profiteering”. Profiteering is exactly what businesses should rightly do and if they do not other businesses will and the former will either get bought out or do bust. If they keep selling at the old price they will rapidly run out of fuel and will be unable to supply anyone with fuel. How does that help. What a dope she is. Next she will be pushing a Ted Heath Ted Heath Prices and Incomes Policy.
This was a response the inflation crisis (actually his and Wilson’s currency devaluation policy). The policy aimed to control inflation by implementing price and pay controls, which were part of a broader strategy to stabilize the economy. The policy was introduced under the Counter-Inflation Act 1973 and was designed to prevent spiraling inflation by limiting increases in prices and wages. The policy was a significant departure from the free market approach advocated by Heath and was intended to provide a more stable economic environment. However, the policy faced criticism and was ultimately ineffective in achieving its goals.
If I recall correctly Enoch Powell asked Heath if he has “taken leave his senses?”
March 13, 2026
Mark B. Farage must make it clear that any agreement entered into by these cowboys will be rescinded without compensation. The same goes for these ruinous electricity subsidies.
March 13, 2026
Indeed but will he be able to deliver this even if he gets a decent majority? Let alone some coalition with some rather lefty Tories.
March 13, 2026
Probably lefty, pro EU, pro low skilled mass immigration and pro NET Zero, climate alarmist Tories
March 13, 2026
Of course we can. It’s only Treaty law. Subservient to almost all others.
March 13, 2026
The Establishment and those in the House of Lords and and House of Commons have been working against British interests for decades.
Their objective has been the creation of a United States of Europe, with the UK trapped inside. Since we forced them to legally leave (for the time being) they are ensuring that to all intents and purposes we remain a member
and they are making it impossible for us to survive as an Independent and Sovereign nation.
Destroying our oil and gas industry will make us dependent on the inter-connectors. Signing us up to the carbon trading SCAM is intended to be a step on the route to rejoining the Single Market and Customs Union.
March 13, 2026
Donna your first statement has hit the nail on its head.
We could add unionism and much of Local Government and universities, where rampant destructive stupidity has run riot finding anyone and anything to blame for the blind acceptance of downright lies, so-called science nonsense treated as truth and political arse-about-face twists and turns at what seems a weekly interval.
We are witnessing a calculated series of steps to persuade the population to turn a blind eye to untruths, corruption, and living standards and law and order breakdown to become a norm.
March 13, 2026
While the world’s attention is distracted by the Donald’s war on Iran, Ukraine has quietly made huge gains as the war criminal Putin’s ‘buffer zone’ in Donetz is wiped out
Oleksandr Komarenko, head of the main operational directorate of the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces, reported yesterday that Ukrainian troops have liberated 400 square kilometres in counterattacks, now controlling almost all of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Hungary seized a Ukrainian shipment of cash and gold in transit worth approximately $82 million, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban ordering an investigation into suspected money laundering. The fate of the funds is unknown but is clearly under Orban’s control
The UN stated that Russia’s deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, with high-level Russian involvement directed by the war criminal Putin
Ukraine has sent professional air defence teams to Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia to help them counter aerial attacks, sharing expertise in intercepting drones.
Trump claimed – without evidence – that Biden providing Ukraine with military support has restricted American bombing of Iran. Utter tosh
March 13, 2026
UK National Security Council (NSC) is chaired by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to oversee national security, foreign policy, and defense. Key members include David Lammy, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Defence Secretary John Healey, and Attorney General The Lord Hermer. So five lawyers, two PPE Oxon and Daren Jones (politics). Certainly fills me with confidence! Do any of them know anything about engineering, science, defence, modern warfare, economics…?
“Rule, Britannia! Britannia rules the waves
Britons never, never, never will be slaves”
The Muses with freedom found
Shall to thy happy coast repair
Shall to thy happy, happy coast repair
Perhaps this needs to be rewritten after Starmer – we do not even rule our borders at Dover and at this rate we all will soon be digital slaves for this Labour Party without even freedom to say what we think.
March 13, 2026
Trump, in a one hour (‘very good’) telecon with the war criminal Putin on Tuesday, rewarded the Russians for providing the IRGC with targeting information – so they can better hit American/Israeli forces in the middle east – with the removal of sanctions on the sale of their oil
Trump has a notoriously short attention span. But even he should be able to recognise that the war criminal Putin has been playing him for months.
The Donald is still agitating for a Nobel peace prize. Good grief
March 13, 2026
@SG. Trump is in trouble and needs the Russians’ help. After watching the US provide munitions, intel, targeting and ops support to the US-installed Kiev regime for years, the Russians are probably getting a rare moment of enjoyment. It also shows that diplomacy is nearly always the best means of nipping problems in the bud.
March 13, 2026
Well Trump is clearly far better than Harris or Biden or Hillary Clinton or Obama. Plus you have to admire his general self effacing modesty. Plus unlike Starmer he does answer questions. Starmer almost never does.
He is at least right on the net zero rip off energy con trick and on borders. If only Starmer would take his wise advice occasionally!
March 13, 2026
Very well said My Lord – but it will fall on deaf ears!
March 13, 2026
Sadly you are whistling in the wind Mr Redwood. Under the Climate Change Act the government is obliged to legislate for the seventh carbon budget by end June 2026. Everything is on track for politicians to make things much worse.
March 13, 2026
Collected my (nearly) new petrol car yesterday SG. She is essentially exactly the same as her lovely predecessor, except three years younger. I normally keep my cars for longer but she is the last of her kind and one of the last off the production line last year. The manufacturer will never make another car like her and in fact I suspect they will be shortly be gone altogether.
The Dealer told me that she was moved out of their main showroom in September as they needed the space for Jaecoo’s. Goodbye European car manufacturing and hallo Chinese made EVs…
March 13, 2026
So what pray is this new lovely car?
My three cars ages are 22 years Volvo V70, 12 years Audi Cab, 14 Fiat Panda all diesel/petrol all going fine only expensive issues were two new clutches (I blame my wife’s clutch control) and two driver electric windows failing. Value of all three cars perhaps £7,000 (less than the cost of one new and small EV battery) so no sig, depreciation or finance costs). The cost of these repairs about £2,500) . Cost of finance cost and depreciation on a new £40K EV circa £8K PA that just for ONE car (with a range of perhaps £160 miles)
“Car manufacturing in the UK will be finished in five years”, warns top auto industry insider
Former boss of Vauxhall UK says government’s net-zero-inspired “ZEV mandate” is “killing Britain’s car industry” and imports of heavily-subsidised Chinese electric vehicles will be “the kiss of death”
Liam Halligan
March 13, 2026
An Alfa Romeo Guilia LL.
A been long love affair with Alfa that started in 1979 when I lived in Milan with a 2ltr Alfetta. I then had a long line of mostly Ford & German (company cars) but Fleet Managers never seemed willing to let me have an Italian one. However, for the past 23 years I’ve been spending my own money and have had just three (now four) Alfas from new in that time. They have all been reliable cars (much more so than my last “executive” company one) but you do need to find a good dealer or independant Alfa specialist and get them serviced exactly as the book says.
The Guilia is a modern classic, beautiful, fast and perfectly balanced. Sergio Marchionne (Head of FCA at the time) put a ‘skunk’ team together and told them to build him a BMW M3 beater. They produced the Guila Quadrifoglio, a 2.9 litre twin-tubo beast that produced 510bhp, weighed very little, could get to 60 in 3.4s and was limited to 190mph. The more modest Guila models that followed afterwards, therefore inherited quite a pedigree, retaining many aluminium components (even a carbon fibre drive shaft) but with a more modest 2litre turbo (just 280bhp) to shove it along. Alfa stopped making Guilias last year and everything is now built on Stellantis designed, standard platforms.
My apologies Lord John for the length of this but it’s hard to explain exactly why I’m so devoted to them. 🙂
March 14, 2026
I understand your love affair – BUT what practical use are the key features you mention?
They produced the Guila Quadrifoglio, a 2.9 litre twin-tubo beast that produced 510bhp, weighed very little, could get to 60 in 3.4s and was limited to 190mph.
March 14, 2026
Many people use the QFs as their daily drive MT but also take them to track days. The (motorsport oriented) marketplace for these cars is specialist but is the same as the BMW M3 Competition, Merc-AMG C63S, Audi RS5 or Jag XE-P8.
My Guilia is in the BMW 330i performance range – quick but not really hairy. You do notice the difference when driving a hire car on holiday (and cannot wait to get back to your own car). I was “upgraded” to a Chrysler 300S (360bhp 5.8 litre HEMI) when I last visited Vancouver and it was a powerful car but cornered like a wheelie bin.
March 13, 2026
It would be instructive to find out who in government and the civil service are directly or indirectly benefitting from this CO2 scam.
March 13, 2026
yes the carbon quota regime, and ability to trade carbon quotas across borders is a big issue too. some of our steel works were only bought so the buyer could get their hands on the carbon quota to then move that quota to a plant elsewhere in the world. a completely bad deal from the UK perspective.
its not just carbon pollution, it is also complex chemical pollution as is produced when you make, say, optical fibres or batteries, or dispose of them. the rules here are way too simplistic, routinely mandate the most expensive anti pollution kit in the world (even when it has only just been invented, and has lots of teething troubles) which again forces production abroad. we should aim to be in the best quartile of least polluting countries in the world per precise process, not the test bed for every new bit of anti pollution kit that is ever invented and which inevitably will be very expensive for the first adopters.
but its the same with intellectual property, and its protection, and movement around the world. the way the UK deals with this is a very bad deal for the UK taxpayer and public. its good to see politicians start to say the things you are saying about pollution, but we need politicians to get a grip of the world flow of intellectual property too.
we need a better underlying strategy which frees free enterprise up, levels a lot of playing fields, does not bias the whole economy towards financial services and little else, and admits that we are never going to be a low cost base commodity producer, we need to aim for the innovative, highest quality end of the spectrum to attract the highest prices on world markets. and innovative high quality output needs ruthless intellectual property protection, excellent workforce with best training, and proper incentives to succeed.
March 13, 2026
Can anyone name any industry/sector where we are competitive and able to out produce our world wide competitors?
Anyone?
March 13, 2026
A crystal clear damnation of the energy policy of successive governments, particularly on the need to import LNG. Why is it so difficult for politicians, and their Civil Service advisers, to understand what is blindingly obvious to anyone who has to make a living in the commercial world? If the hard work that was put into promoting greenery was used instead to address the problems of the NHS and the state educational system we would be in a much better place, but that of course would mean having to face up to some pretty uncomfortable realities, not the strong point of our so called leaders.
As you say, the opposition front bench had to listen and respond. I did not watch the debate, but I cannot believe the response was a very sympathetic or effective one.
The presence of Lord Moynihan, a lasting benefit of the Truss Government, will at least mean you are not a totally loan voice in the Upper House!
March 13, 2026
not convinced the amateur plane spotters live streaming video of what planes are taking off from RAF bases during a war in the middle east is such a great idea. clearly a lot of them are US war planes. the enemies of the US, or their allies, can be watching this stuff to know exactly what is coming their way. which weapons are loaded is often visible too.
the rules around this need to change for the modern world of live streaming. probably force a long delay rather than real time, or similar.
March 13, 2026
Don’t waste your breath milord. No one cares about the HoL or listens. Carbon Taxes are the usual ineffective response to an impossible problem. Politicians have no solution, only words. There is no feasible replacement for fossil fuel for the forseeable future.
We could try reducing the human population – about 500 million fat rich ones or about 3 billion thin poor ones over say 20 years. And keep up the good work. Won’t happen.
So let nature take its course, when we get desperate enough something will turn up, or not. A couple of centuries should see the problem sorted.
March 13, 2026
Well said.
But that won’t happen while net-0 is pursued with the current manic intensity.
The green case has long since been found wanting but the zealots determined to save the planet cannot even see that their religion is a false one, based on pseudo-science.
Without the ability to provide energy for our transport needs, never mind to drive industry, we will revert to a pre-industrial form of feudalism. If we have to live off the goods we can produce then there won’t be a surplus and we won’t be eating very well. That’s one way to reduce the population.
March 13, 2026
Maybe JR could explain us what he understands of the ‘marginal cost pricing’.
March 13, 2026
I’m afraid we are all too busy to educate you Hefner. You need to introduce yourself to Grok.
March 13, 2026
Or even Google
March 14, 2026
The two major exponents of this blog’s ‘vis comica’ have spoken.
I know what MCP is: electricity on the wholesale market is sold at the price of the source of last resort. In the UK, for 98% of times that means fossil fuels, ie gas. The continental Europe average is 39%, in Norway who sells the UK 76% of our gas imports that’s 1% of the times.
(Norway’s electricity production is 89% hydropower, wind 9%, gas 1%).
The price of gas is set on international markets and mainly depends on the biggest suppliers (US, Iran, Russia). Even the UK gas is sold at international market prices so extracting more from the North Sea would only have a limited effect on the gas price for the UK consumer.
March 13, 2026
“This [carbon taxes] is part of a package of measures that lumbers us with energy so dear we cannot make things for ourselves.”
Correct, and carbon taxes are being used to sabotage our industry and therefore our economy and finally our national security. In the case of electricity generation the tax is simply used to make electricity more expensive. This is because grid priority is given to renewables and fossil fuels (now only gas) is only used when absolutely necessary to provide grid stability and backup when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. So the carbon tax is effectively used to make electricity more expensive and to tax (punish?) us for wanting our electricity to be reliable and not chaotically intermittent. The tax is also used to lie about the cost of fossil fuels as it is added to the cost when in fact it is a tax and not a cost. The SoS for DESNZ told the ES&NZ Select Committee on 11/02/2026 that new gas generation was £147/MWhr (I don’t from where he obtained this figure ) and solar (purchased from coal powered China using quite possibly slave labour) was £65/MWhr. However, the DESNZ Electricity Generation Costs 2025 Annex A calculates new gas at £109/MWhr including a carbon tax of £41/MWhr, thus making gas in fact £68/MWhr.
March 13, 2026
“My response to that is that practically every policy initiative this country has taken to reduce its own CO2 has contributed to an increase in world CO2.”
The CAGW/Net Zero activists know full well that adding additional CO2 to the atmosphere makes little, if any, additional GHG warming. Water vapour is a far more powerful GHG than CO2. It absorbs the planet’s emitted IR frequencies over a wider range than CO2 and is 10 to 100 times more prevalent in the atmosphere than CO2. So why do the activists not push for the dehydration of the atmosphere? They have selected CO2 as Net Zero is economic suicide and socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor.
March 13, 2026
Cheap, reliable energy is the bedrock of a modern economy. So why can’t our MPs and Government understand that? The UK should seek to be energy self-sufficient, again, why can’t our MPs see that? Carbon taxes are a complete nonsense, like a man having a good leg amputated to handicap himself for no reason!
For a long time, the UK has survived in spite of our governments, not prospered because of them. There will come a point when the private sector gives up and shrinks, so tax revenues go down, the debt markets say no more, and the government is forced to cut the public sector or go bankrupt. Knowing this Labour Government, it will come as a complete surprise, and they will let the UK go bankrupt. 0% growth in January and a deluded Chancellor who says she is doing it right, and the economy will grow. Pigs will also fly!
March 13, 2026
correct me if I’m wrong!I thought the debating issue was Northern Ireland and Eire and The European Union.
Detail:Great Britain is the union of England,Scotland(kingdoms) and Wales.The United Kingdom comprises
Great Britain and Northern Ireland(ULSTER).Dublin and the EU want NIreland back in their fold.Be also clear that the Scottish Independence Party and the Welsh Nationalists know that without England their financial viability
is whistle up the wind hence Brussels springs to the rescue.?would England prosper without the rest of the UK component parts.This is right up your street(though perhaps divisive and risking responses verging on the
section 13 unacceptable and midnight knocks on the door).
March 13, 2026
Sadly Denby Potteries has gone into liquidation today.
March 13, 2026
The CCC say that the average additional cost to achieve Net Zero is £4bn/year until 2050 and for every £1 spent there will be £2 to £4 in benefits. So why are we spending over £40bn/year (NESO’s estimate) between now and 2030 to achieve a 95% decarbonisation of just our electricity (20% of our total energy use) by 2030? In the meantime the OBR has recently costed Net Zero as £150bn over the next 5 years. Does this mean we will receive between £300 to £600bn in benefits between now and 2031? This should help with our massive national debt!