Andrew Bowie is Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.
Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the UN General Assembly on the 8th of November 1989 has gone down in Conservative lore as the moment that we, as a Party and a Country, acknowledged the effect that man-made climate change was having on the planet.
Climate change was, she said, “an insidious danger posing the prospect of irretrievable damage to the atmosphere, to the oceans, to earth itself.”
From that point there was no ambiguity within the Conservative Party. Climate Change existed and we had a responsibility, one born from the Burkean contract between the living and those yet to be born, to leave a better planet for our children.
But, as famous as Mrs Thatcher’s November ‘89 speech is, too little attention is given to what she said next.
“But as well as the science, we need to get the economics right. That means first we must have continued economic growth in order to generate the wealth required to pay for the protection of the environment.”
The Climate Change Act 2008, and subsequent revisions, in complete contrast to what Mrs Thatcher urged, have made this country poorer and uncompetitive. We have seen de-industrialisation – petro-chemicals plants closed, refineries shut down, and potteries cease production.
We have become more reliant on imports, thereby weakening our energy security. And all of this – the race to Clean Power, the sprint to Net Zero, the targets set by the unelected Climate Change Committee, the mandates, the levies, the fines, the taxes… None of it has had any impact on global emissions.
To tell them that this country’s carbon emissions are going down – but when in reality, they are simply being offshored. Out of sight, out of mind.
Allowing Ministers to go around the country and world, patting ourselves on the backs, lecturing others about the great work they have done.
When of course the reality is that we rely on coal fired power stations to power the factories to make the technology we install on our roofs or fields. We pillage the natural resources of central Africa, ship them to China, instal them in car batteries and ship them back across the world to Europe.
We see prime agricultural land across England turned over to vast solar farms – pristine hillsides and fields in Scotland destroyed as ever more pylons, substations, battery storage plants and windfarms are thrown up, against increasing local opposition who say enough is enough – all to reach the purist and ideological goal of “clean power 2030”. Our green and pleasant natural landscape destroyed, without irony, in the name of “protecting the planet”.
This apparently, is ‘climate leadership’.
So, while we make families and business pay more for electricity, and our heavy industries go overseas, and we shut down our oil and gas industry. Who is listening to us?
As an example in how to build a cleaner future, it isn’t one any other country is going to follow.
All it has done is give Britain the highest industrial electricity prices in the world and the second highest for homes. This is only going to get worse if the government sticks with its clean power 2030 target.
Our electricity grid accounts for just 10 per cent of UK emissions. 31 per cent comes from domestic transport and 20 per cent from heating homes.
By focusing on squeezing out every bit of carbon out of the 10 per cent you ignore the 51 per cent . It makes electrification more expensive and harder to reach for families.
If you want people to use electric heating, if you want to buy an Electric Vehicles, if you see future growth linked to more data centres, if you want to cut bills, reduce poverty and make this country competitive again whilst genuinely building that cleaner future and stronger economy we all want there is a simple solution – make electricity cheap.
Onward has showed what is possible if we put cheap power first. Such a grid would save £320 billion on bills, require less infrastructure – and still be 80 per cent clean through the backing of new nuclear.
Britain needs a serious plan to tackle climate change.
One that is driven by common sense.
Not what makes us feel good, looks impressive on paper, or ties us to targets that we cannot seriously meet without a significant drop in living standards.
Instead, we should prioritise cheap power. Strengthen our industrial base. Drill for Oil and Gas in the North Sea. Build more nuclear where it is needed.
Cut bills for households and businesses – stripping out taxes and subsidies on bills saving households £200 a year.
Delivering cheaper power, re-industrialising Britain, protecting nature, cutting emissions and growing the economy
But one thing is in our way.
The Climate Change Act, cooking the carbon books, tying up critical infrastructure in environmental regulations, pursing fantasy net zero targets, is doing great damage to Britain and our environment.
It is the worst of both worlds, and it is high time that we scrapped it.
Andrew Bowie is Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.
Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the UN General Assembly on the 8th of November 1989 has gone down in Conservative lore as the moment that we, as a Party and a Country, acknowledged the effect that man-made climate change was having on the planet.
Climate change was, she said, “an insidious danger posing the prospect of irretrievable damage to the atmosphere, to the oceans, to earth itself.”
From that point there was no ambiguity within the Conservative Party. Climate Change existed and we had a responsibility, one born from the Burkean contract between the living and those yet to be born, to leave a better planet for our children.
But, as famous as Mrs Thatcher’s November ‘89 speech is, too little attention is given to what she said next.
“But as well as the science, we need to get the economics right. That means first we must have continued economic growth in order to generate the wealth required to pay for the protection of the environment.”
The Climate Change Act 2008, and subsequent revisions, in complete contrast to what Mrs Thatcher urged, have made this country poorer and uncompetitive. We have seen de-industrialisation – petro-chemicals plants closed, refineries shut down, and potteries cease production.
We have become more reliant on imports, thereby weakening our energy security. And all of this – the race to Clean Power, the sprint to Net Zero, the targets set by the unelected Climate Change Committee, the mandates, the levies, the fines, the taxes… None of it has had any impact on global emissions.
To tell them that this country’s carbon emissions are going down – but when in reality, they are simply being offshored. Out of sight, out of mind.
Allowing Ministers to go around the country and world, patting ourselves on the backs, lecturing others about the great work they have done.
When of course the reality is that we rely on coal fired power stations to power the factories to make the technology we install on our roofs or fields. We pillage the natural resources of central Africa, ship them to China, instal them in car batteries and ship them back across the world to Europe.
We see prime agricultural land across England turned over to vast solar farms – pristine hillsides and fields in Scotland destroyed as ever more pylons, substations, battery storage plants and windfarms are thrown up, against increasing local opposition who say enough is enough – all to reach the purist and ideological goal of “clean power 2030”. Our green and pleasant natural landscape destroyed, without irony, in the name of “protecting the planet”.
This apparently, is ‘climate leadership’.
So, while we make families and business pay more for electricity, and our heavy industries go overseas, and we shut down our oil and gas industry. Who is listening to us?
As an example in how to build a cleaner future, it isn’t one any other country is going to follow.
All it has done is give Britain the highest industrial electricity prices in the world and the second highest for homes. This is only going to get worse if the government sticks with its clean power 2030 target.
Our electricity grid accounts for just 10 per cent of UK emissions. 31 per cent comes from domestic transport and 20 per cent from heating homes.
By focusing on squeezing out every bit of carbon out of the 10 per cent you ignore the 51 per cent . It makes electrification more expensive and harder to reach for families.
If you want people to use electric heating, if you want to buy an Electric Vehicles, if you see future growth linked to more data centres, if you want to cut bills, reduce poverty and make this country competitive again whilst genuinely building that cleaner future and stronger economy we all want there is a simple solution – make electricity cheap.
Onward has showed what is possible if we put cheap power first. Such a grid would save £320 billion on bills, require less infrastructure – and still be 80 per cent clean through the backing of new nuclear.
Britain needs a serious plan to tackle climate change.
One that is driven by common sense.
Not what makes us feel good, looks impressive on paper, or ties us to targets that we cannot seriously meet without a significant drop in living standards.
Instead, we should prioritise cheap power. Strengthen our industrial base. Drill for Oil and Gas in the North Sea. Build more nuclear where it is needed.
Cut bills for households and businesses – stripping out taxes and subsidies on bills saving households £200 a year.
Delivering cheaper power, re-industrialising Britain, protecting nature, cutting emissions and growing the economy
But one thing is in our way.
The Climate Change Act, cooking the carbon books, tying up critical infrastructure in environmental regulations, pursing fantasy net zero targets, is doing great damage to Britain and our environment.
It is the worst of both worlds, and it is high time that we scrapped it.