Sunak accused of ‘going backwards’ on energy security as new gas power plants announced

Labour accuses Tories of leaving UK facing another 10 years of high energy bills and energy insecurity

The UK government has been accused of “going backwards” on energy security after it committed to building new gas power stations beyond 2030 to avoid the risk of “blackouts”.

Energy secretary Claire Coutinho will be making a case for “unabated” gas power to continue in the UK’s electricity system beyond 2030 in a speech at Chatham House.

Unabated means the harmful carbon dioxide produced from these power plants will not be captured – a measure which limits the pollution to a certain extent.

The decision is being made to avoid what the government believes is a “genuine prospect of blackouts”. The government said the new plants will serve as backup when renewables like wind and solar don’t deliver.

However, the move does not only threaten the legally binding commitment the UK government made to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, but also hampers the country’s energy security, climate groups say.

“The North Sea will continue its inevitable decline with or without new licences, leaving us ever more dependent on foreign gas unless we lower demand,” Jess Ralston, energy analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said.

“The UK is going backwards on energy security because of the government fumbling its latest auction for British offshore wind farms, failing on its home insulation schemes and dithering on heat pumps.

“Without carbon capture technology, these gas plants may only have a decade or two before they are decommissioned, and who’s going to pay for that?”

However, the government claimed that the UK would still be on track for net-zero and it was being “realistic” by prioritising energy security.

“There are no two ways about it. Without gas backing up renewables, we face the genuine prospect of blackouts,” Ms Coutinho is expected to say.

“Other countries in recent years have been so threatened by supply constraints that they have been forced back to coal.”

“If countries are forced to choose between clean energy and keeping citizens safe and warm, believe me they’ll choose to keep the lights on. We will not let ourselves be put in that position.”

“There are no easy solutions in energy, only trade-offs,” she will add.

The government’s cunning plan to boost energy security and meet our climate goals is to make Britain more dependent on the very fossil fuel that sent our bills rocketing and the planet’s temperature soaring.”

Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK

The move comes after the amount of electricity generated by the UK’s gas and coal power plants fell by 20 per cent last year, with consumption of fossil fuels at its lowest level since 1957, according to a report by Carbon Brief.

However, backing the move for more gas power, prime minister Rishi Sunak said he would not “gamble with our energy security”.

“I will make the tough decisions so that no matter what scenario we face, we can always power Britain from Britain,” he said.

The move has prompted backlash from Labour which accused the Tories of leaving Britain facing another 10 years of high energy bills and energy insecurity.

“Today, the energy secretary has confirmed that, after 14 years of failed Conservative energy policy, under the Tories Britain would face at least another 10 years of high energy bills and energy insecurity because of their plans,” shadow energy security and net zero secretary Ed Miliband said.

“Of course, we need to replace retiring gas-fired stations as part of a decarbonised power system, which will include carbon capture and hydrogen playing a limited back-up role in the system.

“But the reason the Tories cannot deliver the lower bills and energy security we need is that they are specialists in failure when it comes to our clean energy future: persisting with the ludicrous ban on onshore wind, bungling the offshore wind auctions, and failing on energy efficiency.”

Liberal Democrat energy and climate change spokesperson Wera Hobhouse MP said that announcement was “another step backwards on the critical road to net zero”.

“We need to wean ourselves off this reliance on expensive fossil fuels by investing in cheap, clean renewable power and insulating every home,” she said.

Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK, said: “The government’s cunning plan to boost energy security and meet our climate goals is to make Britain more dependent on the very fossil fuel that sent our bills rocketing and the planet’s temperature soaring.

“The only route to a low-cost, secure and clean energy system is through attracting massive private investment to develop renewables and upgrade our aging grid, but this government has failed on both fronts.”