Amber Rudd yesterday made her long-awaited ‘energy reset’ announcement, describing energy security as the number one priority.
Highlighting gas and nuclear as central to energy policy, she has now reshaped DECC as an organisation which is relaxed about maintaining colossal spend on nuclear waste for the next hundred years (96% of current DECC budget is allocated to nuclear waste and liabilities), happy to commit to huge public subsidy to new nuclear build, and sceptical about renewables forming an integral part of the energy mix.
She has made gas-fired electricity the cornerstone of this Government’s energy policy, calling it ‘imperative’ that new gas power stations are built.
These sources of power don’t find favour with the Conservatives.
Commenting on the speech, David Clubb said:
“We already knew that the coal age was coming to an age by 2025. We already knew that the Government was happy to burden generations of bill-payers with huge costs to subsidise foreign-owned nuclear developers. And we already knew that Amber Rudd is very fond of gas-powered generation, with questions arising over her failure to disclose family links to the sector.
“The only new items of note are that offshore wind has been thrown a much-needed lifeline for subsidy in exchange for cost-reduction plans, and that other renewables, including the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, have been eliminated as a key component of the UK’s energy strategy, in shocking contrast to every other developed country on the planet. Energy efficiency appears to have been mentioned in the speech as just an afterthought rather than the top priority it needs to be.
“This is a backward-looking policy statement which will reduce security of supply, reduce our ability to tackle climate change, reduce employment in the energy sector and which does nothing to restore damaged investor confidence.”