How best to describe wilfully vandalising the planet and threatening human life to satisfy ideological bloodlust? Liz Truss – already a plausible contender for the “worst prime minister ever” gong before she even assumes office – apparently intends to issue up to 130 drilling licences for oil and gas firms. If the purpose of this is to confront the looming social catastrophe of energy bills, to describe it as an exercise in futility would be generous: it takes the best part of three decades to pump fossil fuels out of the ground and put them onstream.
As Russia switches off Europe’s flow of gas via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline – it implausibly cites maintenance work as the reason – the need for drastic, swift action could not be more obvious, yet our soon-to-be prime minister has nothing meaningful to offer.
There are other paths. New renewable energy capacity secured by the government will cost only £48 per megawatt hour – compared with the current cost of running gas-fired power stations, which has surged to around £450 per MWh. (And, depending on the impact of action from the EU, it could rise further.) Renewables, therefore, are around nine times cheaper and far quicker to plug into our energy system. What possible reason is there not to make wind and solar the central pillars of an effective strategy to build energy independence and help stop millions being plunged into destitution? What explains this suicidal strategy?
It is undoubtedly that the ideological predilections of the Tory right are prioritised above the Earth’s survival, energy independence and people’s livelihoods. Renewables are indelibly culturally associated with dangerous lefty nonsense, while gas and oil somehow represent macho British tradition. That the case for renewables is based both on pragmatic economics and incontrovertible scientific facts is irrelevant. It is hard not to conclude, too, that an addiction to waging eternal culture war is at play. Much of the behaviour of the modern right is driven by a desire to offend their opponents; like announcing they have passed wind, they want you to be aware of and disgusted by their actions.
If you want to see such ideological spite in all its glory, consider the fact that onshore wind is a mere £50 per MWh, but has essentially been banned by the government. Why? Not because it’s unpopular – polling suggests that three-quarters back it, including a large majority of Tory voters. And not because another much less popular option they’ve also swung behind – expanding nuclear power stations – is cheaper. Nuclear plants are far more expensive and – toxic nuclear waste aside – still take so long to build that they would do little to address the current emergency. It gets worse: Truss has committed to change planning laws to hinder the development of solar power, trashing an energy source that costs just £55 per MWh. “Our fields shouldn’t be full of solar panels” she crows, while our streets will be filled with hungry kids and cold pensioners.
This may explain, too, why David Cameron – who began his leadership by changing the Tory logo into a tree – demanded cutting the “green crap”. It was a commitment the Tories followed up on: while more than 2 million households were insulated in 2012, that plummeted to around quarter of a million a year later, and less than 100,000 in 2020. The consequence? An analysis by Carbon Brief showed that the insulation gap, along with cuts to wind and solar, will cost households an extra £150 a year – and that’s before we mention the loss of skilled jobs that mass insulation programmes support.
Avoiding this looming, avoidable humanitarian catastrophe is crucial. So too is saving the planet. This week, scientists concluded that the Greenland ice cap melting will inevitably mean major rises in sea levels, threatening to overwhelm coastal areas and all those who live in them. A decisive shift to renewable energy offers hope of at least mitigating this calamity, while expanding UK drilling means pouring North Sea oil on to the inferno. The taxpayer is expected to carry a financial burden of subsidies to fossil fuel companies wthat will cost them twice over: it will cost them now in the pocket, and it will cost them a sustainable future.
Britain’s direction is clear: Truss’s Britain will be governed by policies lifted from cliched Daily Mail headlines. All the bêtes noires of saloon-bar reactionaries from the past 20 years will be slaughtered, and the resulting anguish from those effete metropolitan lefties obsessed with mere trivialities such as avoiding mass impoverishment and the destruction of the planet will give the Tory faithful their kicks. While Labour’s refusal to confront the issue of utility ownership closes off the possibility of a long-term solution – and fuels the transfer of wealth from taxpayer to shareholder – at least their windfall tax to scoop away the ludicrous profits of energy giants to suppress bills offers some relief. As things stand, Truss only serves up a tray of niche hard-right poison pills that do nothing to address the three intersecting crises – living standards, energy independence and climate. And, yes, Truss may crave the disgust of those lefty do-gooders, but come winter, many of the Tories own true believers will be shivering in their homes, too.
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist
Guardian Newsroom: Who will be our new prime minister?
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