Good news for Christian Wakeford – he is not the only MP who can’t do maths. Now ex-Green Party leader Caroline Lucas has waded in to attack the government for promising green energy, on the grounds that “Nuclear is hugely costly & simply can’t help meet 2035 target”. Do the maths, she says…

Bone-headed & senseless decision. Govt says #SizewellC is vital to meet 2035 electricity decarbonisation target, but *its own impact statement* found we won't get supply for at least another 13-17 years - do the maths! Nuclear is hugely costly & simply can't help meet 2035 target pic.twitter.com/2XXlGibI5k

— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) November 29, 2022

Well, 2022 + 13 is 2035…

Of course, Lucas has form for this. In 2008, when offering her wisdom to Gordon Brown on rising fuel prices, she claimed:

“It simply isn’t true that nuclear power is the answer to rising fuel prices, since the earliest that a new nuclear power station could come on stream is around 2017.”

Wouldn’t an abundance of nuclear energy for the last five years have been useful right about now? This Clegg-style opposition to any sensible energy policy, just because it won’t solve the problem by lunchtime, is precisely why we are where we are…