28th November 2025

Reeves’ poison pill

The headlines

UK

• Rachel Reeves’ poison pill energy Budget

• NESO warns of impending gas supply crunch

• Tice says Reform will end Drax subsidies

• UK is the most expensive in the world for new nuclear

• Glasman: put the MoD in charge of the National Grid

International

• Norway mulls exit from European grid

Etcetera

• Media, opinion

From the blog

• Reaction: Rachel Reeves’ poison pill

• Fixing the electricity system

UK

Reeves’ poison pill energy Budget

Rachel Reeves offered some relief on bills by shifting legacy green levies off household energy costs. Around £150 will be removed from the average bill from April 2026 as the Treasury takes on most Renewables Obligation costs and scraps the Energy Company Obligation scheme.

She also confirmed a per-mile tax for electric vehicles from 2028. EVs will pay 3p per mile and plug-in hybrids 1.5p, as fuel-duty revenues decline.

The Budget also kept the windfall tax on North Sea producers and introduced only limited “transitional” permissions for existing-infrastructure oil and gas production.

See Net Zero Watch’s write-up here.

NESO warns of impending gas supply crunch

An annual assessment of the UK’s gas security by the independent National Energy System Operator warns of an emerging critical risk to Britain’s gas supply. NESO predicts that severe cold weather for 11 days combined with the failure of the UK’s “single largest piece” of gas infrastructure would result in an unbridgeable gap between demand and gas supply.

Tice says Reform will end Drax subsidies

Writing for the Daily Mail, Reform’s Richard Tice said: “We have already told the subsidy vultures that the reckless 20-year wind farm contracts that Mr Miliband is trying to saddle us with will be null and void. Today, I am telling Drax that they will get the same treatment. The deal they have done with Mr Miliband will be over. The subsidies will stop. Immediately.”

UK is the most expensive place in the world for new nuclear

The UK has become the "most expensive place in the world" to build nuclear power plants, according to a government review which criticises "overly complex" bureaucracy around the sector. A "radical reset" of the rules around nuclear power could save Britain "tens of billions" in costs and reverse the industry's "decline" in recent years, the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce said.

Net Zero Watch joined over 50 leading CEOs, entrepreneurs and experts by signing a letter demanding the Government ACCEPT ALL 47 of the Nuclear Review recommendations.

Lord Glasman: put the MoD in charge of the National Grid

Britain’s energy grid should become part of the MoD and part of national security, Lord Glasman told GB News last night ahead of the GWPF’s annual lecture. “The national grid needs complete restoration and net zero is a fantasy. We need clean, abundant, cheap energy,” he said.

International

Norway mulls breaking from the European grid

Norway is pushing for more baseload capacity in Europe as voters get fed up with backing up Europe’s intermittent wind and solar and seeing their bills go up.

Etcetera…

Maurice was on Talk TV to talk about NESO’s latest warnings and the Energy Profits Levy. He also spoke at a conference organised by Prosperity Institute on energy, where both Richard Tice and Claire Countinho were the main speakers.

Andrew was on Talk TV to talk about the Budget and the environmental levies being moved over into general taxation.

GWPF hosted its annual lecture with Lord Glasman. A video of his speech will be uploaded in due course.

From the blog

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