Michael Gove today announced that the government was relaxing the effective ban on new onshore wind farms that was introduced by David Cameron. Under those rules, just one objection could stop a planned wind farm – but they’ve been scrapped with immediate effect.
The reason? Rishi Sunak was facing a rebellion from Tory MPs, of course. The Prime Minister held talks with the would-be rebels, led by former Cop26 president Alok Sharma, and concluded that he would have to yield to their demands. They were trying to force the government to get on with a promise that was supposed to have been fulfilled by April – and were going to use an amendment to the Energy Bill, currently being debated in the Commons, to do it. Gove told MPs that he was ‘open to novel ways to demonstrate community consent’, but it is not yet clear how that consent will be demonstrated.
Sunak-ism is largely about what is possible in political arithmetic
The dynamics within the Conservative party on onshore wind are fascinating.
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