Household energy bills will rise by more than £300 a year as a result of the Coalition’s green policies, a senior Downing Street adviser has told David Cameron.
Downing Street Rethink: We Are Winning The Battle Against Costly Green Policies
By Guest Column Benny Peiser——Bio and Archives--September 5, 2011
Household energy bills will rise by more than £300 a year as a result of the Coalition’s green policies, a senior Downing Street adviser has told David Cameron. The Prime Minister has been warned that government plans to get people to reduce their bills through efficiency measures are likely to fail. Mr Cameron is said to be “very worried” about the figures in the paper, written by Ben Moxham, his senior energy adviser who was recently brought in to beef up the Prime Minister’s policy unit. Intriguingly, the possibility of reversing some policies is also raised. Mr Moxham asks: “Can we open some of our policies?” --Andrew Porter, The Daily Telegraph, 5 September 2011
The Coalition’s obsession with climate change is damaging Britain’s recovery from recession, former Tory chancellor Nigel Lawson warns today. Writing in the Daily Mail, Lord Lawson delivers a scathing assessment of David Cameron’s so-called ‘green agenda’ and says it is ‘time this Government grew up’. Lord Lawson, Chancellor under Margaret Thatcher, goes further today, saying that plastering Britain with wind farms will push up bills to families and businesses without producing any real benefits. The switch to ‘low-carbon’ energy is expected to add £200 to annual energy bills. He writes: ‘This price increase would be economically damaging at the best of times; and these are not the best of times.’ --The Daily Mail, 11 June 2011
Ministers were under pressure last night to ease the burden of hidden green charges on soaring fuel bills. Consumer groups and MPs say all energy suppliers should be forced to reveal on bills how much hard-pressed families are forced to pay to subsidise green energy and end Britain’s dependence on dirty coal, oil and gas. Benny Peiser, director of the sceptical Global Warming Policy Foundation, called for hidden climate change levies to be slashed. He said: ‘If Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has his way, Britons will be forced to subsidise renewable energy by approximately £100billion in the next 20 years. ‘Electricity prices are likely to double as a direct result. Enough is enough. ‘The Government should now consider a complete moratorium on green energy legislation that threatens to impose huge additional costs on all those who are already facing spiralling power bills.’ --Daily Mail, 8 July 2011
The Daily Mail’s recent re-adoption of climate change scepticism has its origins in a lunch between editor Paul Dacre and former Tory chancellor Lord Lawson. The Mail has “put on the war paint” (a Dacre phrase) and is campaigning against what it calls green taxes – the wide and growing range of levies on gas and electricity consumers, which are used to fund energy efficiency measures and the decarbonising of UK electricity supplies. Politicians who are serious about gaining or keeping power pay plenty of attention to this newspaper. The Mail’s campaign will be noted in Downing Street, around Whitehall and on the backbenches of the House of Commons. --Nicolas Schoon, Ends Report, 26 July 2011
