Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer made a big pitch today for ‘energy security’, promising to rip up planning rules for onshore wind power and create a state-owned green energy giant that will provide all the power the U.K. needs, as well as hitting all our targets on climate change, says Matthew Lynn in the Spectator. But on closer inspection, “it seems that Sir Keir knows barely anything about energy security”. Lynn continues:
In fairness, Sir Keir has got one thing right. Our energy supplies remain very fragile. Over the past couple of weeks the price of natural gas in Europe has risen by 50% as traders bet on huge shortages over the coming winter. We got lucky last winter, with relatively mild weather, and with plenty of LNG from the United States shipped across the Atlantic, but it may not be so easy once the cold weather is back. The blunt fact remains that we don’t have enough energy, and we can’t rely on current supplies, and that is as true of the U.K. as any other country.
The trouble is, Sir Keir clearly has no idea how to fix that. As it happens, it could be relatively easy for the U.K. to move towards self-sufficient in energy. There is still plenty of oil and gas left underneath the North Sea, and we could be drilling for that, but Sir Keir has committed himself to a complete ban on new licences. Even President Biden, hardly a Right wing climate change denier, has allowed new fields in Alaska, figuring you might as well drill for your own oil rather than importing it, but that is too much for the Labour party. Or we could start fracking, developing a huge new industry as they have in Canada, hardly a far-Right country. But instead, Labour supports a total ban on the industry.
An ‘energy security’ plan that replaces North Sea oil with windmills? Orwell would be proud.
Worth reading in full.
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“Labour’s Hopeless”
That’s all we need to know.
(Apologies Will).
Remember the last time everything was nationalised? Strikes!,union power! Oh no, please not that again
First Labour gave us expensive energy by subsidising inefficient UK coal mines. Now they plan to give us expensive energy with bans on UK coal mining (but not Chinese imports) and North Sea oil exploration. I’m sure there’s a word for this sort of behaviour, but I can’t for the life of me think what it is? Peripatetic?
“Labour energy security plan” – surely oxymoronic? Just a pity there’s little to choose between the old corrupt parties (and little chance for other parties and independents). If only thes people would read Not Zero by Ross Clark – though perhaps Sino Sunak is all for a policy that will help China anyway.
And for the record, Clark says net zero is predicated on “non-existent, highly speculative or untested” technologies. Can there really be a non-malign motive based on science and a thorough cost-benefit analysis?
And, dare I say it ? COAL!!!! ARRRGH run for your lives!
Coal – About 400 years supply beneath our feet and that estimate is about fifty years old and from a time when we used a hell of a lot of the wonderful stuff.
Just out of interest, how much of it is viable? I rather suspect it would be cheaper than importing wood to Drax from North America, anyway. Are the preserved steam railways still using it? Last I heard, it was threatening to become rather difficult for them.
Someone told me last year that the West Somerset Railway (Minehead to near Taunton) could no longer obtain the Welsh coal they need to fire their engines, and were having to import inferior coal from (if I remember correctly) Columbia.
In 2021 the USA was the largest exporter of coal to the UK with a share of 39 per cent. This was followed by Russia with 16 per cent and Australia with 12 per cent.
30 Mar 2023. GOV.UK
We also import coal from China and Poland.
A year or so ago some of them did have problems with their normal suppliers, but part of that was the temporary failure of some washing plant at one of the open cast collieries they prefer to use. I had a chat with one of the volunteers on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway about that – they generally used coal from Ffos y Fran http://www.cwfuels.co.uk/products/steam-coal/ I think that one is controversial with the usual suspects, and likely to close down soon. The failure of the washing plant probably didn’t bother their big customer – Tata steelworks in Port Talbot.
At the end of the day, there is probably still a lot of top quality steam coal in South Wales, but not popular now. However, the last time I visited one of the other lines, it looked OK with their stock of coal at Ropley, Hants.
Given that governments of both parties, plus the SNP in Scotland, have dynamited most of our coal fired power stations for PR photos I’m not sure if it makes economic sense to build new ones rather start fracking to supply existing gas fired stations.
Best gaff of the day goes to Sir max Headroom. – gets on a flagship ‘green’ bus, bus breaks down, clown gets on a diesel
Well just in case you hadn’t yet caught the video proof that they were all taking the p*ss out of the British public behind closed doors, here it is. Because apparently your own rules don’t apply to you if you’re a Westminster, entitled, two-faced toff. ”Deadly pandemic? What deadly pandemic?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz1EElOpmqo&ab_channel=TheMirror
Hey mod, editing out my expletives! Is it because I is black???
Sh*t. Looks like Italy’s getting hit hard also. And once they’re on the mainland they can just go wherever. No I don’t see any women or kids either, unless they come later, as one commenter says.
https://twitter.com/Don_TranQuiL/status/1670895563972149250
Actually get on this twitter page and take a look. Horrific! Don’t think I’ll be in a hurry to go to Italy any time soon. Ooh look, someone took offense at my potty mouth!
https://twitter.com/RadioGenova/status/1669619818209714178?cxt=HHwWhIC95Z2Y16suAAAA
Does Starmer care that his plan is rubbish? I doubt it. He’s playing to a different audience.
His plan is a vote winner with young metropolitan voters. This is all that matters to him as Labour stopped caring about their traditional working class supporters when that slimy traitor (Blair) became leader.
I expect Schwab sent him a lovely message saying what a good little puppet he is.
How can we have energy security that depends on the sun shining and the wind blowing? And how can you care for the environment by bulldozing new roads all over our national parks and countryside to service new wind farms?
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has lots of coal in stock. Belongs to the King – but probably not keen to mine it. They could argue that the coal is secure for the time being. If you need a bit of exercise on double think etc, have a look at the Coal Authority’s current business plan: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coal-authority-business-plan-2022-to-2025/coal-authority-business-plan-2022-to-2025
Not much talk of producing coal. Just the progress they are making against their previous business plan. The whole country has been captured by woke idiots.
I doesn’t depend on the sun shining and the wind blowing.
It depends on the sun shining not too little, not too hot …. just right (ie between about 15 deg.cent and 30 deg.cent)
And for the wind blowing not too little, not too strongly ….. just right.
We should just call it the Goldilocks Policy.
“Orwell would be proud” – we have a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – doublethink, if I ever saw it.
I work for a UK consultancy that supplies various flavours of our government. We had an online meeting yesterday that started with the unit leader talking about we honour ESG and CSR issues and, in particular, how keen we are when it comes environmental issues. We than started the presentation proper with an exposition on the current status of our major government customers – the list started with The Coal Authority.
Ahh, the Coal Authority. Well, those who criticise nationalisation might not be aware that the whole lot underground is nationalised, in effect. According to their site, “The Coal Authority is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Read more about what we do”.
I expect Jimmy Saville’s saviour to be photographed very soon guzzling a bottle of beer in front of a roaring coal fire but probably not in the Guardian.
But Germany has about 35,000 wind turbines and they still don’t have all the power they need. Make no mistake the green grifters don’t believe they can run the country on wind and sun. Infact they know they can’t. So what is going on here? ———–About 10 years ago the head of the National Grid (Steve Holliday) said” We are going to have to get used to using electricity as and when it is available”. ————What? In the 21st century we will get electricity sometimes, and sometimes NOT. Does this sound like progress to you? The last American president (Trump) withdrew from the Paris agreement. The difference between Trump and Obama, Johnson, Starmer, Sturgeon, Merkel, Macron, Trudeau etc is that he is NOT a politician. He does not have to be part of the globalist pretend to save the planet team of progressives trying to control the worlds wealth and resources and using fear of a climate apocalypse with no evidence to back it up. ——He saw what it was ——-A SCAM.———— A scam that would lower living standards and steal America’s wealth, as Obama said “Under my plans electricity prices will necessarily skyrocket”. Well at least you gotta give Obama credit for telling the people that they were going to be priced out of using energy, but it was necessary to “halt the rise of the oceans”. So that leads onto the latest stupid Green twit –Starmer. ——But I never expected it to be any different. They all have to play the phony Climate Crisis game because they all have to pander to the UN and WEF. They don’t work for you. ————–They work for them and they have big plans in store for you. It is called “Sustainable Development” and the only way they can pull this eco socialism off is by keeping you scared of the evidence free climate apocalypse. Some of us are so scared we glue ourselves to the street and some healthy promising young people with their whole life ahead of them are too scared to have children. ———-Wake up people you are being played for fools.
Labour’s Energy Insecurity Plan …..
I’ve fixed it for them.
I appreciate that coal is polluting. I live out in the middle of nowhere and my coal merchant is no longer is allowed to supply me with coal and for this reason do not stock it any longer – they can supply me with smokeless fuel at 3 times the cost.
Governments are not getting rid of coal because of “polluting” smoke though. They are getting rid of it because they want to reduce CO2 which is produced when burning coal. But CO2 is not pollution. It is an invisible odourless colourless trace gas. So if you think they want rid of coal to protect your lungs you are wrong.