Sadiq Khan has pledged to use “any tool in the toolkit” to fight Reeves on her plan to expand Heathrow and get a third runway operational by 2035. One man has stepped forward as his legal champion…
None other than Jolyon Maugham has reassured his supporters that the Good Law Project is “already dusting off our plans, formulated with a leading environmental Silk, to challenge Heathrow expansion.” Back in 2021 the Good Law Project began soliciting donations for its legal battle against any possible expansion to the airport – all it managed to do was repeatedly complain about the Airports National Policy Statement and sending Jolyon’s favourite pre-action protocol letter to the government. Now the grift can take off again…
Reeves insists that her new growth projects and Net Zero go “hand in hand” – something that Ed Miliband has expressed his doubts about when it comes to Heathrow. Any legal campaign against Reeves’ plans will no doubt have public and private support from more than one senior Labour figure. Guido isn’t sure Jolyon’s reverse midas touch will be welcomed with open arms…
The North Sea Transition Authority has ordered Cuadrilla to destroy the UK’s only viable shale gas wells, forcing the company to fill them with concrete and decommission the site by June 2025. Cuadrilla confirmed the process will begin next month. A reminder that Britain was on the verge of blackouts just this month…
National Gas data shows UK gas stockpiles have collapsed by 36.7% compared to last year, and by 2030, Britain will be importing 70% of its gas. Centrica has warned storage levels are “dangerously low”, while last week the IEA dropped a bombshell report predicting global gas demand will hit record highs by 2025 and warning that supplies remain “fragile”. Richard Tice slammed the madness as “more insanity from Red Ed”, while Cuadrilla’s CEO warned of the serious energy security risks:
“Keeping these wells open doesn’t cost taxpayers a penny, but once they are concreted over then we lose easy access to supplies of shale gas that could be used for decades to come. As President Zelensky pointed out earlier this month, European nations are still far too exposed to Russian gas supply. Britain should do what it does best and look to help extricate the continent from Moscow’s orbit.”
Just last week Reeves touted how she told watchdog bosses to “tear down regulatory barriers” blocking economic growth and Starmer today vowed to “clear out the regulatory weeds” to boost investment. Labour’s Net Zero vs Growth war rolls on…
Hard left think tank the New Economics Foundation put out rapid analysis this week warning that any expansion of Heathrow, Luton, and Gatwick would decimate the carbon emission savings garnered from the government’s Clean Power 30 mission:
“Researchers at NEF have found that approving the expansion of the airports would create 65m tonnes of additional carbon-equivalent emissions within five years of expanded operation, wiping out the savings made through the Clean Power Plan.”
The NEF also tries to claim that the economic growth to be gained from more flights is overstated: “Incoming foreign tourists were outnumbered 3‑to‑1 by UK residents travelling abroad on their holidays, and spending money overseas.” The bastards…
The NEF’s longstanding director was until recently Miliband’s new Minister for Energy Consumers Miatta Fahnbulleh, who led the organisation for a whopping six years. They have stayed close – Miatta touted her experience in the job to get elected in Peckham and recently spoke at the NEF’s event at Labour Party Conference…
The DESNZ team have stayed studiously quiet in public on speculation surrounding next week’s aviation announcement – apart from Miliband saying he wouldn’t resign this time. Look no further than the New Economics Foundation for their real arguments…
Another cold day, another example of Red Ed’s climate crusade proving to be a vanity project the UK can’t afford. Over the last 18 hours, wind farms supplied between 0.1% to 3.7% of the UK’s electricity, while solar hit a low of 0%. Gas has been providing between 59% to 70% of electricity. No surprise that wind and solar farms are effectively useless when it’s a cloudy, windless day…
Meanwhile, due to renewable energy sources not providing enough electricity, UK power prices have jumped to their highest level in more than two years, with the day-ahead price reaching £241.49 per megawatt-hour as the country imports electricity from Europe at record levels. Just a few weeks ago, Britain was on the brink of blackouts because unreliable renewables failed to supply sufficient energy. Yet Miliband is still pushing to reach 95% ‘clean energy’ within five years…
BP is slashing 8,000 jobs as Labour’s Net Zero crusade piles pressure on oil and gas firms. The cuts include 4,700 staff and 3,000 contractor roles, driven by Ed Miliband’s push to wind down North Sea oil production and ramp up renewables. Labour’s beefed-up windfall tax on energy profits isn’t helping either. So much for lofty promises of boosting jobs…
Meanwhile, Miliband has admitted heat pumps might never be cheaper than gas boilers, admitting yesterday:
“We can say to people you need to get a heat pump, not a gas boiler, potentially, at some point in the future. But I’m very wary of saying we’re going to stop people having gas boilers at a point when we can’t guarantee heat pumps are going to be cheaper for people.”
Despite this, Labour snuck a “boiler tax” through Parliament last night, fining manufacturers who don’t sell enough heat pumps, likely adding £120 to the cost of a new boiler. Net Zero short-circuiting the economy…
Net Zero zealot Ed Miliband’s eco-obsessed targets are set to ignite a housing market “frenzy,” experts warn, driving up prices and creating a dire shortage of homes. Labour’s green blueprint prioritises properties “wired” for smart tech or fitted with pricey heat pumps, just as the government plots a contentious overhaul of energy performance certificates (EPCs) by 2030. Leaving landlords scrambling to sell up before coughing up…
Ryan Etchells of a buy-to-let lender Together, cautioned that government policies had already drained landlord investment, and Miliband’s latest plans will plunge the sector further into darkness, saying “if we’re not careful it could become a frenzy.” Meanwhile, Angela Rayner’s planned overhaul of Thatcher’s Right to Buy scheme is set to pull the plug on half a million council tenants’ homeownership dreams. So much for Labour being the ‘party of more housing’…
Red Wall Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash told GB News that Starmer should resign:
“I’m completely fed up about it, and I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think that, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when.”