Edward Leigh MP, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Gainsborough, questioned the wisdom of comments by Ed Davey, the Lib Dem Energy & Climate Change secretary, on the cost of the government’s “carbon floor price” policy. Speaking on BBC1’s Sunday Politics programme yesterday, Ed Davey admitted that the policy of forcing British companies to pay for the greenhouse gases they produce will be passed right on to consumers.

“Well, indeed it will do,” Davey conceded, “because what we want to do is to make sure that we move to low carbon electricity generation. That’s very important.”

Edward Leigh, however, stated his opposition to the carbon floor price policy, arguing that it presents an additional challenge to working families.

“The Treasury estimates that this Lib Dem policy adds £25 to the average family’s energy bill. It’s outrageous that we are needlessly adding to working families’ bills in these trying times. This significant additional cost makes it harder for people in already difficult circumstances to make ends meet, and it should be scrapped.”

Mr Leigh and Mr Davey interacted earlier in the month when the Gainsborough MP asked the junior minister “what steps he is taking to listen to a diversity of views” with regard to climate change.

“I am no scientist,” Mr Leigh added, “and I do not know the truth about the controversies that are raging around global warming, although I note that Dr James Lovelock wrote recently that, in his view, temperatures had remained broadly constant over the last twelve years.”

“I do not know whether that is right or wrong; what I do know is that before we spend trillions of pounds on reining in our competitive economy and desecrating our country with wind farms, we should actually listen to a range of views.”