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Net Zero Watch press release

17th April 2026

UK’s energy weaknesses exposed

The headlines

UK

  • IMF warns that Britain faces biggest shock in the G7

  • Labour scraps carbon charges from 2028

  • Reeves vows to break the link between gas and electricity prices

  • Major AI data centre on collision course with Net Zero

  • Kemi Badenoch: Net Zero is stopping the UK from re-arming

International

  • Asia looks to coal and nuclear

  • European airlines cancel hundreds of flights

Watch

  • Labour MPs turn on Ministers

  • Solar threatens grid stability

Etcetera

  • Media, opinion

From the blog

  • Reeves is recycling a failed electricity pricing wheeze

UK

IMF warns that Britain faces the biggest shock in the G7

Britain faces the biggest economic shock in the G7 this year, the IMF has warned, as it cut its UK growth forecasts for this year and next. The IMF cited the "impact of higher energy prices”. By contrast, energy exporters such as the US and Canada will see a much smaller hit to growth.

Labour scraps carbon charges from 2028

The UK government will scrap an extra charge that fossil fuel power stations must pay for their carbon dioxide emissions, as cost concerns rise up the political agenda.

Reeves vows to break the link between gas and electricity prices

Rachel Reeves has said she wants to cut the link between electricity and gas prices in the UK as the government seeks to reduce its exposure to volatile fossil-fuel costs.  The chancellor said that she and Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, would set out more details within days on ways of ensuring the wholesale price of electricity is set more often by renewables, reviving a thorny issue that has been subject to exhaustive review in recent years.

READ: ANDREW MONTFORD DISMISSES REEVES’ CLAIM TO DECOUPLE GAS FROM ELECTRICITY PRICES

Major AI data centre on collision course with Net Zero

Britain’s first proposed “nationally significant” data centre would be powered by gas, putting the government’s ambition to create an AI superpower on a collision course with its net-zero goals.

Kemi Badenoch: Net Zero is stopping the UK from re-arming

Speaking to the London Defence Conference at the weekend, Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, said that Britain’s energy policy was standing in the way of the country re-arming. She said: “How can our defence industry compete when it pays four times more for electricity than American businesses?”

International

Asia looks to coal and nuclear

Expectations of a long period of cheap, abundant LNG have collapsed. Governments from India to Southeast Asia had planned on that extra supply helping them shift away from coal, but the Middle East war and the resulting energy shock have exposed those assumptions as unrealistic.

European airlines cancel hundreds of flights

Two of Europe’s biggest airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights in response to soaring fuel costs: Lufthansa announced plans to shut down its regional airline by the weekend, while Dutch-based carrier KLM axed 160 flights for the coming month. It came as the head of the International Energy Agency warned Europe to brace for a wave of further flight cancellations triggered by jet fuel shortages.

Watch

WATCH LABOUR MPs TURN ON THE UK GOVERNMENT OVER DEINDUSTRIALISATION.

WATCH OUR CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR DISCUSS HOW SOLAR THREATENS GRID STABILITY

Etcetera…

Read: Maurice Cousins writes for Spiked that Ed Miliband’s monomania has destroyed the British economy.

Read: Tom Tugendhat MP warns that high fertiliser and diesel costs will fuel a populist backlash.

Read: Ross Clark argues that Miliband’s mad dash for solar will increase electricity bills.

Read: Sam Ashworth-Hayes says that Britain is at a tipping point and that the future fate of the country is in Ed Miliband’s hands.

From the blog

Fri, Apr 17

Net Zero Watch: Reeves is recycling a failed electricity pricing wheeze

 Read More 

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