Boris Johnson has pledged to “do more” to help people with the rising cost of living after Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng admitted the government’s energy security strategy is “more of a medium three, four, five year answer”.
Speaking to broadcasters from Hinkley Point C ahead of the release of the energy plan later today, the prime minister said his government is “already doing a huge amount” to ease the burden of rising household bills, but said the strategy is about “tackling some of the mistakes of the past”.
He added that measures to help people with bills in the short term will come from other government policies, rather than the energy strategy.
“We are really doing a huge amount for the immediate cost of living,” the PM said.
“This (energy strategy) is about tackling the mistakes of the past and making sure that we are set well for the future and we are never again subject to the vagaries of the global oil and gas prices and we can’t be subject to blackmail, as it were, from people such as Vladimir Putin, we have energy security here in the UK.”
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Energy strategy ‘is medium term’ answer
Plans to boost nuclear, wind, solar and hydrogen
The energy strategy is being published as the country wrestles with high prices and how to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas.
The government is expected to outline plans in it to boost nuclear, wind, solar and hydrogen, with the PM declaring earlier on Thursday “nuclear is coming home”.
Speaking to Sky News earlier, Mr Kwarteng said it is “right” to say the government’s energy security strategy “is more of a medium term three, four, five year answer”, suggesting there will be little in the government’s energy plan to help householders with soaring bills now.
The strategy has been criticised for its lack of focus on reducing energy demand through measures such as insulating homes, with critics saying it will not help families struggling with bills for the coming winters.
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Spending row on eve of energy strategy
‘Yet another missed opportunity’
The chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee said the government’s plan was “yet another missed opportunity”.
Labour MP Darren Jones said: “For families and businesses across the country energy security means being able to turn the heating or electricity on knowing you can afford to pay the bill.
“Ministers continue to ignore the reality faced by of millions of people with yet another missed opportunity to help bill payers and a failure to announce funding for the home insulation works required to reduce the amount of heating needed in the first place.
“Replacing gas power with more nuclear power is lower carbon, but nuclear isn’t renewable and it isn’t cheap.
“It’s disappointing that the government has failed to seize the full opportunity of onshore wind and solar once again with no explanation other than disagreements within the Conservative Party.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the energy strategy is “not enough” and “too late” to help families with rising costs.
“Only last week we saw energy bills going up in the middle of a very real cost-of-living crisis which is causing people real hardship,” he told broadcasters.
“All we’ve got today is a cobbled-together list of things that could and should have been done over the last 10 to 12 years and it doesn’t even tackle really important things like insulating homes, which could save £400 on everybody’s bill.
“So it isn’t enough, it’s too little, it’s too late.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the plans were “utterly hopeless”.
Read more:
‘Limit to amount of taxpayer’s money’ that can be used to help with energy bills, PM says
What is in the government’s energy security strategy?
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Is new offshore wind target achievable?
PM: Energy strategy is ‘sensible and pragmatic’
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson declared his strategy as “massively green” and defended the decision not to prioritise onshore wind, saying the UK already has about 30GW of onshore wind capacity and that new farms were “controversial” because of their visual impact.
He said new sites “will have a very high bar to clear” and would have to “reward” local residents with cheaper energy.
Mr Johnson said the UK would be able to power more than all the homes in the country with offshore wind.
On new North Sea oil and gas licences, the PM said the government is taking “a sensible and pragmatic view”.
The strategy includes an aim to make 95% of electricity low carbon by 2030, with a goal to produce up to 50GW of offshore wind energy by 2030, which officials said would be more than enough to power every home in the UK.
A new body, Great British Nuclear, will be launched to bolster the UK’s nuclear capacity with the hope of up to 24GW of electricity by 2050 coming from the source of power – 25% of the projected electricity demand.
There is also an aim to double the goal of low carbon hydrogen production to 10GW by 2030, with at least half of that coming from “green” hydrogen – produced from renewable electricity rather than natural gas.
A new licensing round for new North Sea oil and gas projects is planned for the autumn to cover the “nearer term”.
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