Agreed; either evading the question, or blind stupidity.

To be fair, the response was almost certainly drafted by a Civil Servant (it reads like something created by a Committee, which may also have been the case) and put in front of the minister to sign - which he quite possibly did without reading it and/or knowing what it was about. Ministers are bombarded with paper morning, noon and night and would never be able to do their jobs if they read everything that they put their names to.

Civil Servants are paid almost as little as Politicians, so your theory about the IQ of the writer(s) may still hold true, though I still subscribe to the view that there are many intelligent and committed people who are motivated by the idea of public service rather than wads of cash - but that's an argument that has aired on here before. The fact remains that the response indicates either that the person who wrote it has missed the point and is a blockhead, or that they know very well that they are evading the point, in which case they are being spectacularly cynical.

Either way, I tend to agree that the days of red Diesel are numbered - and I doubt that a change of government would make any difference.

Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho