Our generating capacity and National Grid infrastructure are nowhere near ready for a full transition away from fossil fuels, and the political price of forcing lower living standards on voters will be very steep indeed.
Shifting heating and transport to electric devices only disguises emissions unless they are powered by a clean grid – and even if not, the extra demand on the system will require vast amounts of new cables and pylons.
Over-turning the ban may be a cause célèbre for the free market right. But any genuine effort to tackle our energy security problem is going to require both a massive programme of spending and the clunking fist of central government.
We face a situation where getting each project over the line is iteratively harder and no sooner is a project approved by the Secretary of State but a series of judicial reviews land from community groups.
A fairer deal for those who have to tolerate new power lines and pylons is the best way to reach Net Zero and secure Britain’s energy supply.
None of Vince’s presuppositions about the project – that the technology, the economy, and the public are on side – stand up to scrutiny.
I don’t think that we serve our children or planet well giving in to the counsel of despair. Tackling it is more akin to an engineering challenge – one we know we can do.
It is absurd to set a strictly political timetable for the wholesale transfer of an industrial economy to unproven technologies.
Combined with windfall taxes on both fossil fuel and renewable energy generation, Britain’s business tax regime is getting less, not more, competitive.
Johnson’s defenestration and the war in Ukraine have fatally undermined the push for decarbonsation. But increasing our domestic energy supply will prove just as difficult.
We might get the most optimal outcomes from the Independent Net Zero Review by extracting the best of it and focusing our efforts. Let’s prioritise those priorities.
The second part of a mini-series on ConservativeHome this week about how the Government can help Britain’s economy to grow faster.
The first part of a mini-series on ConservativeHome this week about how the Government can help Britain’s economy to grow faster.
Is he fated to be a fire-fighter, a leader grappling with crisis? Or can he find the political space to deliver a more personal message – perhaps to do with education?
Policy stability is desperately needed to restore confidence, keep costs under control and make offshore wind attractive to investors again.