Energy: Johnson has run out of excuses

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Energy: Johnson has run out of excuses

Pete North • 24 March 2022

The Tories could act. They just don't want to.

You all remember the fiasco over the mass procurement of ventilators. On that I’m prepared to cut the government some slack. At the time we didn’t really know what Covid was or what to make of it, and we only had dodgy data from China and the WHO to go on. In any case, It’s good to know that we have that procurement capacity when we need it. The government can act on an emergency footing when it wants to.

But why does it not see the same urgency as living standards are collapsing? Instead of ramping up nuclear builds, the government is doubling down on its luxury Net Zero ideology, leaving many of us wondering if we can heat our homes at all next winter.

With any energy energy goes a food and jobs emergency, placing massive pressures on the welfare system. In his budget, Sunak may have doubled local support for the very poorest to ten billion, but that ten billion is going to be soaked up in no time because this government is failing to treat the energy crisis with the due seriousness. The only way to reduce pressures on the welfare system is to bring energy costs down.

Then as much as energy costs have an impact for households, the outlook is bleak for manufacturers still reeling from Covid lockdowns and Johnson’s bungled trade deal. As it happens, Britain has fared better than I anticipated, but mounting energy bills will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

From the signal’s we’re getting from Sunak, who says we should prepare for difficult times, the Tories must know they’re going to be facing serious problems on all fronts, building on long standing problems such as rental costs and the unaffordability of houses. Yet still the Tories dither while a thousand illegal immigrants arrive every day by dinghy. Worse still, the Tories are giving thought to an amnesty, allowing illegal immigrants to work, creating yet more competition for scarce jobs. Whose side are they on?

Not only did Covid demonstrate that the government can act on procurement when it wants to, it can also fast track emergency legislation. It could legislate for faster nuclear procurement, it could scrap green taxes at the stroke of a pen, and there’s no good reason for further delays to border reforms. With an eighty seat majority, this government has no excuses. But instead they put Net Zero and illegal immigrants first. They could act but they just don’t want to. Remember that next time you walk into a polling station.

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