𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Sir Tony Blair’s think tank has launched a full-throttle attack on Ed Miliband’s energy policy, accusing the Government of engaging in “climate theatre” while pushing for a u-turn on Labour’s ban on new exploration licences in the North Sea. The TBI says Britain needs an energy policy which is focused on delivering “affordable” and “abundant” electricity. It states that “cheap power” is a “foundation of growth”. It argues the North Sea should be seen as a strategic asset worth up to £165billion and calls for the windfall tax to be axed.

Energy must be considered a pillar of the economy and not a “subset of climate policy”, the TBI warns, in what will be seen as a clear attack on Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Mr Miliband’s approach. It is calling for a full “reset” of energy policy and blasts the Clean Power 2030 plan for “clean sources” to “produce at least as much power as Great Britain consumes in total over the whole year”. This should be replaced, it says, with the objective of “cheaper power by 2030”.

The TBI warns the present plan “risks locking the UK into uncompetitive industries” and “higher power prices” which will endanger innovation. The think tank claims it “neglects affordability”, adding: “In a country responsible for less than 1% of global emissions, that is not climate leadership – it is climate theatre.”

The TBI states in its new paper: “Expensive power weakens demand, deters experimentation and raises the cost of failure.”

Claiming that “higher electricity prices are being justified to create domestic supply chains”, it warns that “ relying on electricity consumers to subsidise high-cost deployment is a blunt and ultimately self-defeating tool”. The TBI supports the target for achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but cautions that “decarbonisation succeeds only if it makes energy cheaper, not more expensive”.

Delivering a stern warning to Labour, the paper adds: “In a world where economic power, technological leadership and geopolitical influence are increasingly shaped by access to abundant, reliable energy, the UK cannot afford an energy strategy that locks in scarcity. Decline is not a climate strategy – and a weaker Britain will not be a more effective climate actor.”

The TBI wants a “bespoke energy strategy” for Artificial Intelligence which makes use of gas turbines and nuclear power stations.

Tone Langengen, the author of the paper, said: “A reset in Britain’s energy policy is the most effective contribution the UK can make to tackling climate change. At the moment, its narrow focus on whether power is clean means the system has lost sight of whether it is cheap, secure, and capable of powering a modern economy.

“Energy policy is drifting away from the fundamentals that it must serve. It should be measured by the outcome that really matters: abundant, affordable electricity that sustains growth, enables electrification, and maintains public consent for climate action.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “Our clean power mission is the only way to bring down bills for good. The alternatives leave Britain dependent on petrostates and dictators whose control of fossil fuel markets helped drive the cost of living crisis, and are not in the interest of the British people.

“The route to energy sovereignty, lower bills and thousands of good jobs in our communities is becoming a clean energy superpower.”

The Government claims issuing new North Sea licences will “not take a penny off bills”.