Boris Johnson and Liz Truss are backing an attempt to overturn England’s effective ban on onshore wind farms, a Conservative MP has said. Former minister Simon Clarke said the ex-prime ministers were supporting his bid to relax restrictions through the Levelling Up Bill.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has scrapped a move by predecessor Ms Truss to relax the rules. He has said he wants to prioritise building turbines offshore instead.
Mr Clarke has tabled an amendment to the Levelling Up Bill that would overturn a planning clampdown introduced by former PM David Cameron in 2015. The move would allow new turbines with local consent, and represented a “pro-growth, pro-green policy at a time when we need both,” he added.
It is the latest rebellion faced by Mr Sunak over the Levelling-Up Bill’s planning measures. The bill’s journey through Parliament has already been delayed by a Tory backbench rebellion over housing targets, with votes due next Monday postponed.
When he was prime minister, Mr Johnson published an energy strategy in May that ruled out “wholesale changes” to the planning system for onshore wind.
Asked about the ban earlier this month, Mr Sunak told MPs the government wanted to focus on offshore rather than onshore wind.
“It is right that we bring people with us as we transition to net zero,” he said. “The worst thing we can do is alienate communities if we want to actually deliver on our climate commitments.”
How odd … Johnson and Truss are on the same side as Greenpeace:
She was right, it was the Bank of England asleep at the wheel who hadn’t put up in interest rates like the rest of the world did. When stupid Andrew Bailey realised he hiked interest rates up too much, too quick and caused the bond market to wobble. This is all because of the £500 billion COVID borrowing that was done - by Sunak, nothing to do with what Truss had planned in her budget (and not actually implemented I might add).
If Truss was so wrong, how come interest rates haven’t come down, taxes have increased and we are now in recession ?
Don’t believe a word the media are telling you, its all complete bollocks. If Truss hadn’t given in to the blob we would be in growth, no recession and companies wouldn’t be going bankrupt.
Sunaks solution (in a cost of living crisis) is to increase taxes, increase dividend taxes, put more people into high tax brackets through fiscal drag, to implement austerity through spending cuts, freeze public sector pay rises and introduce taxes on battery cars. We had the highest taxes in 70 years, Truss was reversing all of that to promote growth (which would have worked) but Sunak has increased them even more.
Business Secretary Grant Shapps has denied there is a split in the Tory Party over onshore wind farms. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there was “definitely a contribution to be made by onshore wind”, although there should be local support for any new turbines and ideally communities should benefit from them. “If you can do that then I have no principled objection,” he added.
Simon Clarke, who was a cabinet minister under Ms Truss, has tabled an amendment to the Levelling Up Bill that would overturn a planning clampdown on onshore wind introduced by then-Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015. He said the move would allow new turbines where there is local consent. Around 30 Tory MPs are believed to have added their names to the amendment, including outgoing COP26 President Alok Sharma and former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry.
