One of the biggest issues on which this committee will be advising the Government is a proposal for a £30 billion Severn barrage (which will contribute, on average, a mere 1.43 gigawatts of electricity to our EU renewables target). As I reported last week, one of the directors of the tiny company behind this hugely costly scheme was, until two weeks ago, Lord Deben. If there is any question of a conflict of interest between Yeo’s own financial and political concerns, the same applies in spades to the former Mr Gummer. We must wonder whether it is proper for a committee headed by one of these men to confirm the appointment of the other.