Energy bills for heating homes and powering businesses are some of the highest in the world. Speeding up the transition to homegrown clean power – nuclear and renewables – is the best bet for creating new jobs and bringing down bills.
Which is why I was struck by seeing Reform UK’s new energy policy launched last week. Under the guise of banishing the bogeyman of ‘net zero’, Reform proposes turning away from the global shift to homegrown, cheap, clean energy and back to oil and gas. They claim this would bring bills down but the opposite is true.
It doesn’t matter where they are produced, oil and gas are traded on a global market and prices are set globally. We learnt this under the Tories, who left the UK enormously exposed to energy shocks by selling off our gas reserves and holding back rapid construction of new nuclear and renewables. The new Labour government is acting fast to reduce our dependence on petro-states and dictators like Putin, but Reform would roll that back.
Perhaps Reform’s policy is no surprise given that Nigel Farage openly admires Vladimir Putin and describes him as a victim of the West. Reform’s energy policies would be a form of surrender to Putin and they would undermine our own energy independence. What is surprising is that Reform would take this position when they know it would mean higher energy bills for homes and businesses.
Just as damaging however are Reform’s proposals for new taxes on renewables and higher fees for grid connections. This would hit bills and jobs by making it more costly to build and deliver clean, cheap, homegrown energy at a time when we’re seeing record levels of investment in energy infrastructure in this country, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
Despite claiming to be pro-nuclear, Reform’s plan would choke off a nuclear industry which is just now starting to build back after collapsing under the Conservatives.
So the consequences of Reform’s energy plan are clear: a hit on consumers through higher bills, less investment and jobs in the UK, knocking confidence on nuclear and offering a gift to Putin and other foreign actors.
It’s a pro-Putin energy plan which will hit our bills hard. There’s nothing patriotic about that.
Labour’s plan isn’t ideological, it’s pragmatic. We want clean, cheap, homegrown energy instead of reliance on hostile states and volatile global prices.
As your MP, I’m working hard to ensure we feel the benefits of that here in West Cumbria, through investment in new nuclear and clean energy projects and attracting the jobs that could power.
Josh MacAlister MP 