Earl Attlee recently answered questions on biofuels from members of the House of Lords. The Hansard record is here, and it gives a flavour of the pressure for the government to wave its magic wand and make the industry viable. In other words poor people must subsidise the rich, the wasteful and the inefficient:
Baroness Worthington: ...Will the noble Earl undertake to meet representatives of the industry to discuss a more sensible way forward so that the industry can continue to grow and deliver investment and jobs, which is what we need?
Lord Bradshaw: ...can the Minister please assure the House that the Government really take the biofuels industry seriously?
Lord Kennedy of Southwark: ...what does the noble Earl's department intend to do to support small companies that make biofuels from locally sourced used cooking oil?
Lord Soley: ...The Minister will know-...that not all biofuels require extensive land use, algae being an obvious example... I wonder whether we should be doing much more about it. Does he agree?
But you probably knew that. We also learn that ministers are aware that land-use changes brought on by biofuels may actually increase emissions, but that the biofuels mandate is increasing anyway, and that if you don't use your diesel-powered engine often enough the biofuels in the fuel may rot your engine.
A normal day's work for the political class.