4 Monday April 4 2022 | the times
News
Boris Johnson is expected to drop plans
to treble the number of onshore wind
turbines and will instead “go for
nuclear” by committing to up to seven
new plants.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secre-
tary, proposed more than doubling on-
shore wind turbines from 14GW to
30GW by 2030, with the bulk of the
new turbines in Scotland.
He has also suggested that the gov-
ernment could go even further by try-
ing to hit a bigger target of 45GW of
energy from offshore wind by 2035.
However, the prime minister is con-
cerned about growing Tory opposition
to the issue. The energy strategy, which
is published from Thursday, will drop
the targets but commit to reviewing the
national planning policy framework so
more wind farms can be built where
local communities support them.
There has been an effective morator-
ium on new onshore wind since 2015.
Top of the flocks Thomas Nash, 12, left, won the Rare Breed Survival Trust’s Young Shepherd final at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate. Leah Parker, 10,
with her Derbyshire gritstone, came fourth; Ruby McKenzie, 12, with her Welsh badger face, was second; and Charlie Whybrow, 8, with his Manx Loaghtan, was third
PM set to drop wind farm target
and support new nuclear plants
Ministers are discussing incentives
such as lower electricity bills that could
be offered to people in exchange for
agreeing to have wind farms built near
them.
Yesterday morning Grant Shapps,
the transport secretary, called onshore
wind farms an “eyesore”.
He told Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky
News: “I don’t favour a vast increase in
onshore wind farms, for pretty obvious
reasons — they sit on the hills there and
can create something of an eyesore for
communities as well as actual problems
of noise as well. So I think for reasons of
environmental protection, the way to
go with this is largely, not entirely, but
largely off-sea.”
Pressed on whether that means the
idea of a “big increase in the number of
onshore wind farms” is “effectively off
the table for now”, he said: “I’d urge you
to wait for the energy strategy later in
the week. But my thinking is what you
really want to do is develop in other
ways — nuclear, we will have offshorewind. I don’t think you want a huge
expansion of onshore wind.
“There may be cases where it makes
sense, but I think by and large we’ve
established... that offshore works very
well. And by the way, it’s providing quite
a lot of our electricity already.” Johnson
will instead focus on nuclear with a
pledge to generate as much as 24GW of
electricity from nuclear power by 2050.
The plans have been at the centre of
a row between the prime minister and
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, amid con-
cerns that it will tie the hands of future
governments for decades.
It could also lead to big exposure for
taxpayers. The government is expected
to announce this year that it will take a
20 per cent stake in Sizewell C, EDF’s
£20 billion proposed nuclear power
station in Suffolk.
A government source said that it
expected a similar approach for future
nuclear power stations. “These things
don’t happen without significant gov-
ernment involvement,” the source said.The energy security strategy is ex-
pected to involve the government com-
mitting to the construction of at least
two new big plants by 2030 in addition
to small modular nuclear reactors.
Johnson also used a meeting with
renewable energy firms to urge the in-
dustry to build a “colossal” offshore
wind farm in the Irish Sea within the
next 12 months. He said he has a dream
that a giant floating wind farm could
provide “gigawatts of energy”.
Ed Miliband, the shadow climate
change secretary, said: “Families across
the country are paying more on their
energy bills because of the govern-
ment’s moratorium on onshore wind,
the cheapest power available.
“Now the government seems to be
backing off rumoured plans to scrap the
ban, all because of pressure from the
same Tory backbenchers who got it
imposed in the first place.”
Energy flows, letters, page 26
We need realistic plans to boost energy
supplies, leading article, page 27Steven Swinford Political Editor
A Labour frontbencher was forced to
backtrack yesterday after suggesting
that energy and fuel supplies should be
rationed.
Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow busi-
ness secretary, used a series of inter-
views to suggest, then reverse, the posi-
tion that the country should draw up
contingency plans for rationing.
Asked about rationing on the BBC’s
Sunday Morning, he said: “We should be
making those plans and the govern-
Labour backtracks over rationing of energy supplies
ment should be preparing, not necessa-
rily in public, for that situation.”
He said that this position was based
on a probable increase in competition
in the international energy market.
He said: “There’s a lot of complacen-
cy in this country about the relative
lower exposure to Russian gas we have.
“But we should bear in mind that part
of the supply that comes to this country
from, for instance, Norway or from the
liquefied natural gas that goes into the
terminals and wells, that is partly
because Russian gas is fulfilling thedemands of central Europe. I think
what the Government should an-
nounce is a plan which is not simply
shopping from one authoritarian
regime to the next for fossil fuels, but
that long-term plan on renewables or
nuclear and energy efficiency that
would make the difference.”
However, less than an hour later he
told Times Radio that rationing fuel
and energy would be a mistake in an
apparent reversal of his position.
Asked again whether the UK should
ration energy, he said: “No, that wouldbe a disaster for households and busi-
nesses. But the fact you’re even asking
is an indictment of Conservative
energy policy for the last decade.”
It is thought that his change of tone
came after an intervention by Labour
Party headquarters.
Grant Shapps, the transport secre-
tary, categorically ruled out rationing.
Asked on Sunday Morning if it was a
good idea for the country to look into
energy rationing, he said: “No, I don’t.”
He added: “It’s not the route that we
want to go down.”Steven Swinford
Cancer therapy success
A liver cancer therapy that
isolates the organ and bathes it in
chemotherapy drugs has been
found to be effective in almost
nine out of ten patients. A study
published in Melanoma Research
said the procedure pioneered at
University Hospital Southampton
let doctors administer far bigger
doses of drugs, which could
otherwise damage healthy tissue.Unions call for new law
The TUC says government plans
to drop an employment bill from
the Queen’s Speech would allow
“rogue employers to treat staff
like disposable labour”. Frances
O’Grady, its general secretary,
said: “After the scandalous events
at P&O, which have exposed
gaping holes in employment law,
the need for new legislation has
never been more urgent.”Lockdown spirits falter
Beer sales are recovering from
the pandemic slump but sales of
spirits are falling, a study has
found. The accountants UHY
Hacker Young said that about
4.6 billion litres of beer were sold
last year, up from 4.1 billion in- During lockdown people
drank wine or spirits, leading to a
13 per cent fall in beer sales. As
pubs reopened, beer sales revived.
E-scooter safety fear
E-scooter trials in London should
be stopped after “dangerous”
faults were found on rental
devices, a campaigner has said.
Sarah Gayton, a co-ordinator at
the National Federation of the
Blind, said she was shocked to
find serious tyre defects on
several scooters. Three operators
are taking part in a trial scheme
that ends in June. Helen Sharp, of
Transport for London, said:
“We’re determined to make sure
safety is at the core of our trial.”AACCDDE E
EHIIILLM
NOOOO P R R
RRRS STTYSolve all five clues using each
letter underneath once only1 Spoken test (4)2 Up-to-date, recent (6)3 Positive acknowledgment (6)4 Of the community at large (6)5 Time before records began (10)Quintagram®No 1280
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