UKLabour rift widensShell reopened its Penguins oil and gas field. Meanwhile, the Labour Party threatened to split apart over the government’s plans to approve two further oilfields. At time of going to press, it appears as if Starmer and Reeves will win out. Green jobs, but not yetIn an interview, the head of Labour’s new GB Energy organisation said it might take 20 years before he could deliver on the government’s pledge that it would create a thousand new jobs. He dodged questions on whether energy bills would fall. Price cap to riseOngoing predictions for the energy price cap suggested that consumers should expect further increases – of up to 5% – when the new level is set in a few weeks’ time. Ed Miliband was reported to be in panic mode, demanding that colleagues come up with ways to get bills down. Public cools on Net ZeroPollsters reported that the UK public has turned against decarbonisation, believing that economic growth is more important. As if to emphasise the point, it was confirmed that the Luton van factory will close within months, while redundancy letters were sent to workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery. Carbon pricing you out of a jobKeir Starmer signalled that he might link the UK carbon emissions trading scheme to its EU equivalent, a move that would probably raise electricity prices still further. Net Zero noose tightens on landlords’ necksEd Miliband thinks that landlords will pay to upgrade the energy efficiency of much of the UK’s housing stock and is planning to tighten the timescales for them to do so. The possibility that they might just exit the rented sector entirely doesn’t appear to have occurred to him.
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