The European Council recently failed to get agreement on a net-zero climate emissions target by 2050. The Government's climate action plan states the Government would agree to such a target subject to European agreement. Is the Government willing to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050, irrespective of what happens in the European Union process, or will we wait for agreement among all European countries before we do it?

The short answer is that we are willing to commit to that. I think that is what is stated in the climate action plan - maybe it is more nuanced than that. My understanding is that we are willing to commit to it. I was one of the Heads of Government who was willing to commit to it at the European Council summit last week. Three or four Heads of Government were not willing and they raised the question of how we will get there. As it stands, it seems that getting there will require many technological advances to take place, particularly in respect of carbon sequestration and storage, which may not happen. Their concern relates to making a commitment without a roadmap as to how we will get there. We would like to make that commitment because we may never get there if we do not set down that ambition in the first place.