To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what plans he has to institute a carbon tax; and if he will make a statement.

The Government's policy on the use of economic instruments for environmental protection is set out in the White Paper, "This Common Inheritance". In the long term, action to control emissions will inevitably have to include increases, achieved by taxation or other means, in the relative price of energy. However, the White Paper made clear the Government's intention not to introduce any such measures in the next few years outside the transport sector.