The Prime Minister’s pronouncement that Britain needs investment in new gas-fired power stations to keep the lights on is a rare moment of realism in the fog of Net Zero delusion. The government’s analysis shows that ‘we will need gas generation in the immediate term to meet rising demand’, Rishi Sunak wrote in the Telegraph last week.
With a general election due at some point in the next nine months, Sunak couldn’t resist playing politics too, accusing Labour of taking a ‘fantasy approach’ to energy security. This accusation was reinforced in a speech on the same day by the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Claire Coutinho. Without naming Labour, Coutinho argued that pretending ‘you can do things overnight is a fundamentally dishonest position’, referring to Starmer’s pledge to decarbonise the grid by 2030 rather than by 2035.
Having more onshore wind, as Miliband wants, doesn’t make wind intermittency disappear
But there is a fundamental difficulty with Sunak and Coutinho’s attempt to position themselves on the side of realism and honesty on this issue.
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