Chamber and committees

Further to that, I was thinking about speed limits. Could there be two tiers on speed limits for automated vehicles and conventional vehicles? In the devolved context in Wales, there is a national speed limit of 20mph in built-up areas. Could automated vehicles be run at different speeds under a different set of rules of the road under clause 50?

Okay, I will let that sink in a bit.

I have a final question about the broader policy context. I will play devil’s advocate and say that I see automated vehicles as a bit of a costly distraction. Where do they sit within the Scottish Government’s transport policy? We have major issues with infrastructure investment for conventional bus travel and I know that the Government is working hard to support the bus sector in that. Is bus operators investing in automated bus technology a realistic tangible option right now? Will the cost of redesigning streets and systems to accommodate such vehicles not be astronomical? I am interested in where we are right now and where we think this might be going in the future.

Welcome back to the committee. I would like to ask you about ScotRail’s off-peak all day fares pilot that will run until June. What are your thoughts on that? Could or should that be made permanent? Is that a good use of public investment, or are there other ways to support people’s return to the railways?

That would be interesting. Do you see the need for a simplification of the fare structures across the UK? My understanding is that the UK has some of the most complicated rail fare structures in Europe. Sometimes, we have the most expensive fares; sometimes, we have fares that are very good value. However, as Mr Samson said, it is quite confusing for commuters and travellers to work out how to get those good-value fares.

I want to ask you about the new normal as regards post-Covid travel patterns. Is that picture settling down? Is the peak still leisure driven? What has the impact been on your services over the past year? Is it now more of a fixed landscape? How are you operating within that landscape? I put that to ScotRail and to Caledonian Sleeper.

I just want to make a brief comment. It is important that the UK emissions trading scheme continues to align with the European Union emissions trading scheme. After all, as we have seen with the interaction between the Swiss and the EU schemes, the direction of travel seems to be to link the schemes at some point in the future, which will offer more certainty for business.

From what I can see, however, what is being brought forward in this instrument does not change that question of alignment. It does not alter the number of free allocations, for example, so I do not see any significant divergence arising as a result of it. That satisfies me that we have our scheme, and the EU has its scheme, but the potential to link them after the reform of the EU-UK trade and co-operation agreement is still on the table.

On timescales, you indicated that it took, I think, 10 years for Switzerland to strike a similar agreement with the EU to link their two schemes together. It feels like only yesterday we were in the EU ETS, so would it really take 10 years to conclude a negotiation, or would it be a lot quicker than that, given our current alignment?

Thank you.

How much lobbying is there from particular sectors that would be disadvantaged by the CBAM? Is there a particular drive in Brussels from sectors that would have huge costs imposed on exports to the EU? I am not sure where the political drive is for linking the schemes as a priority.

I will ask about EU electricity market reform, which aims to stabilise electricity prices across the EU, especially after the disruption from the war in Ukraine. I note that your report talks about some tensions within the EU, in particular in relation to whether contracts for difference for French nuclear power constitute subsidy to a major form of energy generation, and economic advantage to France. Does that have implications for the TCA and whether there is a level playing field?