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Labour’s Dangerous Net Zero Plans Leave U.K. at China’s Mercy, Says Energy Secretary

by Richard Eldred
31 March 2024 3:00 PM

Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho is sounding the alarm over Labour’s “dangerous” Net Zero policies, warning they will lead to a heavy reliance on Chinese materials, endangering U.K. energy security and raising consumer costs. The Telegraph has the story.

Claire Coutinho said Labour’s pledge to convert Britain to “clean power” by 2030 – five years earlier than the Conservatives – would leave the U.K. “over-reliant” on Chinese-made metals, cables and batteries, just as Europe was weaning itself off Russian oil and gas. …

To achieve its target of “clean power” by 2030, Labour has pledged to quadruple offshore wind generation, triple the amount of energy coming from solar panels and double the country’s onshore wind capacity. 

However, Sir Keir scrapped a £28 billion green spending pledge that was intended to help achieve the target, following Conservative claims that it would lead to higher taxes and borrowing.

A report published last week found that the pledge would require more than £15.5 billion additional investment per year until the start of the next decade.

Ms. Coutinho said: “At the moment there is one global dominant player when it comes to things like critical minerals or batteries and that’s China.

“So if you’re saying that we are going to have this unfeasible target, which no other major economy would have, what you’re ultimately sending out to the world is that we’re willing to pay whatever price you will put to us, which will see costs implode, you also don’t have time for the supply chains here to develop, which means you’ll be reliant on China.” …

The costs involved in meeting the target would “mean… higher taxes for people, hiking up people’s bills and essentially not being sure that we can keep the lights on”, Ms. Coutinho claimed, adding that the plan would mean “send[ing] the money to China”.

Worth reading in full.

Tags: ChinaClaire CoutinhoEnergy PolicyGeneral electionLabour PartyNet Zero

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30 Comments
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Mogwai
Mogwai
1 year ago

If you’ve not seen it already this is excellent. 2mins of the President of Guyana serving this BBC goon’s arse to him on a plate;

”The BBC’s @stephensackur
on @BBCHARDtalk
i/vs the President of Guyana, Irfaan Ali on exploiting $150b of its oil & gas reserves.

Mr Ali is having none of Sackur’s woke, guilt trip nonsense as he points out that his forests store 19.6 gigatonnes of carbon.

“Does that give you the right to lecture us on climate change?”

One gigatonne is 1,000,000,000 tonnes & equivalent to:

5.5 million blue whales
3 million Boeing 747 jets
2 million International Space Stations
20,000 RMS Titanic ships.”

https://twitter.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1774376744868257943

58
-2
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
1 year ago
Reply to  Mogwai

I wish he’d got to the point though. That CO2 is not actually a problem.

42
0
AethelredTheReadier
AethelredTheReadier
1 year ago
Reply to  Marcus Aurelius knew

Aye, you’re absolutely right, Marcus. People like Sackur need to be told the facts of life regarding the ridiculous emissions story.

24
0
Heretic
Heretic
1 year ago
Reply to  Marcus Aurelius knew

Toby Young put this in the DS News Roundup on the 30th of March. Yesterday.

  • “This is magnificent to watch” – Watch this clip of the President of Guyana putting a BBC journalist in his place when he tries to lecture him about the risks of climate change.

This is magnificent to watch. The President of Guyana truly put the BBC in its place.

When sanctimony and pomposity meets sense and modesty.

pic.twitter.com/5gOKvUNCo2

— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) March 29, 2024

If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.”

2
-5
AethelredTheReadier
AethelredTheReadier
1 year ago
Reply to  Mogwai

Just fabulous. Thanks for sharing, Mogs.

15
-2
Heretic
Heretic
1 year ago
Reply to  AethelredTheReadier

Toby Young put this in the DS News Roundup on the 30th of March. Yesterday.

  • “This is magnificent to watch” – Watch this clip of the President of Guyana putting a BBC journalist in his place when he tries to lecture him about the risks of climate change.

This is magnificent to watch. The President of Guyana truly put the BBC in its place.

When sanctimony and pomposity meets sense and modesty.

pic.twitter.com/5gOKvUNCo2

— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) March 29, 2024

If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.

Last edited 1 year ago by Heretic
0
-6
psychedelia smith
psychedelia smith
1 year ago
Reply to  Mogwai

Yes it was great to see the BBC host of ‘Hardtalk’ put on his arse BUT the Ghanaian President was still arguing within the contrived narrative of a ‘climate emergency’ so everyone in that room was still hiking across Mount Bullshit.

It would be great to see someone like that simply go “No, you’re talking nonsense and you know you are. There is no empirical evidence ever produced that shows CO2 controls the climate. In fact the opposite. There’s an abundance of data consistently showing CO2 increasing after temperature rises with a lag of a few hundred years. If you’re unsure about this ask Professor John Clauser, Nobel Prize winning atmospheric physicist or any of his esteemed colleagues. Now fuck off out of my country.”

36
-1
RTSC
RTSC
1 year ago
Reply to  psychedelia smith

He probably wants to stay alive …… so not sensible to contradict “the narrative.” A number of African leaders had unfortunate “accidents” when they did that over the Covid Scam.

5
-1
Epi
Epi
1 year ago
Reply to  psychedelia smith

He should have said the last bit before the interview began.

3
-1
7941MHKB
7941MHKB
1 year ago
Reply to  Mogwai

All absolutely correct, Mogwai. But I wish the President had been sufficiently well briefed to shove a few home truths up Sackur’s scrawny arse. The BBC’s role in promoting the Thermogeddon nonsense, for a start. And (since 28 Gate) their utter refusal to acknowledge basic scientific facts. The truth-deniers.

To be honest, whilst I am content that Guyana is “preserving the biosphere”, I can’t help pointing out that Guyana has likely had little opportunity in the past to exploit this potential resource.

A bit like me going down the pub and bragging that “when I was younger I have to admit that I found Claudia Schiffer and Michelle Pfeiffer very attractive. But, remembering my marriage vows, I, of course, resisted temptation.”

2
-1
Heretic
Heretic
1 year ago
Reply to  7941MHKB

Yesterday Toby Young put this in the DS News Roundup for the 30th of March.

  • “This is magnificent to watch” – Watch this clip of the President of Guyana putting a BBC journalist in his place when he tries to lecture him about the risks of climate change.

This is magnificent to watch. The President of Guyana truly put the BBC in its place.

When sanctimony and pomposity meets sense and modesty.

pic.twitter.com/5gOKvUNCo2

— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) March 29, 2024

If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.”

0
-5
Mogwai
Mogwai
1 year ago
Reply to  Heretic

Tad “obsessive” aren’t we?😂 Perhaps you’d better take your own advice and “wind your neck in”. Pathetic🤡

3
-3
Heretic
Heretic
1 year ago
Reply to  Mogwai

Yesterday Toby Young put this in the DS News Roundup for the 30th of March.

  • “This is magnificent to watch” – Watch this clip of the President of Guyana putting a BBC journalist in his place when he tries to lecture him about the risks of climate change.

This is magnificent to watch. The President of Guyana truly put the BBC in its place.

When sanctimony and pomposity meets sense and modesty.

pic.twitter.com/5gOKvUNCo2

— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) March 29, 2024

0
-3
StickyWicket
StickyWicket
1 year ago

The Conservative plan t\is o decarbonise the grid by 2035, only five years later.

Overall, all the amin parties are committed to the Climate Change Act and implementing the ruinous Carbon Budgets prepared by the unaccountable Climate Change Committee.

Coutinho’s pitch of “I’m slightly less insane than Miliband” is not a compelling proposition.

The only way to roll this back is to repeal the Climate Change Act.

117
-1
wokeman
wokeman
1 year ago
Reply to  StickyWicket

Beautifully put, started writing exactly the same post then realised you’d already said it.

33
-2
wokeman
wokeman
1 year ago

This is like Stalin criticising Mao for not valuing human life appropriately.

84
0
Heretic
Heretic
1 year ago
Reply to  wokeman

Brilliant! Absolutely spot on.

27
0
Heretic
Heretic
1 year ago

Yet another Ethnic Indian given a top governmental post in the West, warning the West about the “Chinese Takeover”, this time in battery production. China and India have been enemies for centuries, but China doesn’t continually shriek about the “Indian Takeover”.

Strange that this Ethnic Indian chosen to represent the British people doesn’t mention India’s role in battery production at all:

“From large multinational conglomerates like Reliance Industries, Tata Group, and Suzuki to legacy battery businesses such as Amara Raja, Exide, and new entrants like Log9, Godi, and Nsure several companies are readying to enter India’s cell manufacturing space with investments running into billions of dollars.”

What’s next for India’s battery manufacturing industry in 2024? – (etn.news)

India’s Top 10 Lithium Battery Manufacturers of 2023 – Artek Energy

Last edited 1 year ago by Heretic
15
-13
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
1 year ago

The Energy Secretary can jog on. The current government’s Nut Zero plans are catastrophic. Her government and party have been waging war on us for years, and should be charged with treason.

76
0
For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
1 year ago

This is quite disingenuous election propaganda from this government. Their plans are not materially different and are equally scientifically illiterate.

51
0
AndyLarge
AndyLarge
1 year ago

If this is the best the Tories can muster as a vote winning policy difference, they may as well give up on the General Election now.

What’s next for the Tory slogan machine?

Vote Tory – we hate voters quite a bit less than Labour.

Vote Tory – our corruption only involves three billionaires, not as many as Labour have involved!

Etc etc.

34
-1
AJPotts
AJPotts
1 year ago

There is very little to choose between the mainstream political parties. All are coercive collectivists. All are committed to the destruction of society and economy. All are evil scum.

23
0
7941MHKB
7941MHKB
1 year ago

Coutinho is ‘de facto’ His Majesty’s Secretary of State for Zero Energy Security.

It isn’t nearly enough to point out that Labour’s Energy policies are ludicrous when they are only trivially worse than the Tories’ own Energy policies which they have persisted with for 14 years. To gross incompetence and utter failure to carry out even rudimentary cost / benefit analysis, the Tories have added blatant venality, allowing their Billionaire chums to ruin us all.

Rather than childishly pointing her finger at Labour, she has just about time to take a few steps now to nip all the “Green Crap” (as Dave Boy Cameron himself put it) in the bud.

As an absolute minimum she should initiate an Inquiry into the Climate Change Committee and Ofgem for their barefaced lies and utter stupidities, Gross Malfeasance in Public Office.

9
-1
7941MHKB
7941MHKB
1 year ago
Reply to  7941MHKB

She has perhaps six months to take some actions which wouldn’t win the Tories the election, but would certainly open many areas to proper debate and cause damage to the venal and malicious clowns who have been most active in this scam.
Initiating impeachment proceedings against Ed Miliband and Ed Davey would be an excellent first step. Also, to make clear that it isn’t just ‘Party Political’ shenanigans, Lord Deben and Zac Goldsmith. All have been filling their boots with loot. Davey even boasts that he “Banned Fracking” (on utterly bogus, anti-scientific grounds) whilst trousering £18,000 p.a. for “advice” to a solar energy firm.

7
-1
myk
myk
1 year ago

During the coronation i wanted to buy a union flag and was most disappointed to see that it was made in China. Since then i have bought two items, A Sonny DAB+ radio and a Tefal non-stick frying pan, both made in China. Recently I wanted to buy an air fryer, I searched through the sites of companies selling the to see if i could find one not made in China, I failed.

Our net zero targets are fueled by Chinese coal

14
0
varmint
varmint
1 year ago

But Starmer is the World and European Flip Flop Champion. ——Today he wants to pretend to save the planet by 2030, but tomorrow it could 2040. Especially once he is actually having to live in the real world instead of the phony planet saving fantasy one that all politicians think we can live in. Despite the fact that you cannot run Industrial Society on wind which is clear from the German example. Despite having about 40,000 wind turbines the Germans had to open 14 new coal fired plants. —–Our UN lackey politicians care not how much all of this absurdity costs each of us. They will force all of our perfectly good cars off the road . They will get rid of the best central heating we ever had (gas) and they will spend several trillion quid of our money on this stupid net zero garbage, that even Tony Blair has said will have no noticeable effect on global climate. ——–So if it will have no effect why do it? ——Because it isn’t and never was about the climate. It is about western governments pandering to United Nations phony planet saving eco socialism and ofcourse the UK has to be the teachers pet and the star pupil.

10
0
Jackthegripper
Jackthegripper
1 year ago

And so does the Tories plan for net zero, there isn’t a fag paper between them on climate change nuttiness.

9
0
varmint
varmint
1 year ago
Reply to  Jackthegripper

It was never discussed or debated and no questions were asked. There was no concern for the costs, estimated in the trillions, and no concern if the technologies required existed or could ever be invented. It was simply waved through by the political class. It is a globalist stitch up. Voting simply gives you the illusion you have choice, when infact you have NONE

10
0
Epi
Epi
1 year ago

Conservative = Chinese colony by 2035
Labour = Chinese colony by 2030

Take your choice.

6
0
varmint
varmint
1 year ago

Is Coutinho really saying that the Tories knocking back the eco socialism masquerading as science 5 years further back than Labour would deserves some brownie points? The whole political class is on this climate scam. They are prepared to remove prosperity and freedom so they can get a little gold star on their lapels from the UN Technocrats.

1
0

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