Britain’s energy security and progress to net zero are under threat as the energy bill enters the Commons again.
Warring factions of the Tory party have tabled amendments to the bill including relaxing rules on onshore wind permissions, banning certain types of solar developments and softening a ban on oil boilers.
As ever, there is a tussle between those Conservative MPs who believe new renewable energy is crucially important for economic growth, and those who are more concerned about the impact of wind and solar farms on the countryside view.
Sunak appeared to be in the latter camp when he made his pitch to be prime minister last year, saying at the time: “Wind energy will be an important part of our strategy, but I want to reassure communities that as prime minister I would scrap plans to relax the ban on onshore wind in England, instead focusing on building more turbines offshore.”
After pressure from the 150 MPs in the Conservative Environment Network, he caved in and consulted on lifting the ban. Stringent planning rules have created a de facto ban on onshore wind developments in England. Twenty onshore wind turbines have received planning permission since 2015 – just 2.7% of the number granted permission between 2009 and 2014, before the planning restrictions were put in place.
However, the government suggested on Tuesday that it will not lift the effective ban despite a popular amendment laid by the former Cop26 president Alok Sharma and signed by Liz Truss, which would relax the rules on onshore wind.
Greenpeace’s chief scientist, Doug Parr, said the amendment was so weak that developers would not be able to use it to break ground on new onshore wind, if it passed as it was currently written.
“A first look at the ‘compromise’ wording suggests it won’t make any difference because this wording has already been dismissed by developers as inadequate,” he said.
“Discussions between rebels and government could result in a compromised planning guidance that allows [wind] farms to be built when it has been demonstrated that the planning impacts have been satisfactorily addressed and where there is community support. This is the revised planning guidance that was consulted on at the beginning of 2023. This planning proposal was roundly rejected by prospective onshore wind developers as still carrying too much risk to take projects forward.”
Parr says that unless these phrases are properly clarified, developers will not plan onshore wind as it would be too difficult, and likely to be rejected.
Meanwhile Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton in the east Midlands, is campaigning against a large solar farm in her constituency and has tabled an amendment for a wider block on that form of renewable energy. This follows plans by the Liz Truss government to ban them from most farmland. Kearns has tabled a move to limit large ground-based solar farms. The industry says her plan would add £5bn to household bills. The cost would add £180 per household to energy bills, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. The government wants to build 70GW of solar capacity by 2035 and a large proportion of this will have to come from infrastructure installed on the ground.
The former net zero tsar Chris Skidmore has tabled eight amendments to the bill that were first revealed by Politico. These include an intriguing one that involves appointing an independent body to give the government a date to end new oil and gas exploration. This is an apparent compromise between the government and Labour party views on the matter. Other amendments include a ban on new coalmines, ending electricity production from coal altogether from January 2025, and enshrining the 2035 target for decarbonising UK electricity supply in law.
On the other side of the Tory net zero factions is the sceptic Craig Mackinlay, who chairs the Net Zero Scrutiny Group. He has tabled 63 amendments pushing to weaken government support for renewables and boost oil and gas. It is not thought that either Skidmore or Mackinlay will get government support, however.
George Eustice, a former environment secretary, has put in a bid, supported by the new energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, to weaken the proposed 2026 ban on new oil boilers in rural homes. After he tabled an amendment to allow environmentally friendly oils to be sold to households at lower prices, Coutinho tabled a similar amendment, leading many to believe the ban will be moved or dropped.
It is a story that has been written time and again over the last few years: an issue of extreme importance reduced to Tory infighting, with the UK’s energy security and net zero future put at risk as a result.
