DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Sir Keir Starmer's green dream is just a lot of hot air By Daily Mail Comment Published: 01:36 BST, 26 July 2024 | Updated: 01:37 BST, 26 July 2024 e-mail View comments Sir Keir Starmer 's big idea for government has been to promise a green revolution. This, he insists, will decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030, cut household bills, boost the economy with many thousands of eco-jobs and protect our energy security. And yesterday, the Prime Minister and his eco-fanatic Energy Secretary Ed Miliband unveiled how they hope to make this a reality: A giant, publicly owned quango called Great British Energy.
Yet the more you interrogate exactly how the Government's goals will be achieved, the more fanciful they become. Their claims would make a self-respecting snake-oil salesman blush with embarrassment. Seeing green: Sir Keir Starmer 's big idea for government has been to promise an eco revolution Eco-fanatic Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and the Prime Minister unveiled how they hope to make their idea a reality: A giant, publicly owned quango called Great British Energy It is extraordinary that self-professed socialist politicians believe they can swoop in and run a highly specialised energy business better than the professionals.
GB Energy's raison d'etre is to build more wind and solar farms by encouraging and subsidising new investment. But there are two insurmountable problems. First, expecting our power-hungry nation to be reliant on renewables for all our electricity within six years is simply unfeasible.
Read More ALEX BRUMMER: I fear Starmer and Miliband are creating a taxpayer-funded white elephant that will decimate our energy security And the quango's £8.3 billion budget over five years is a drop in the ocean compared to the colossal sums needed to achieve Net Zero. This is green dream turned delusion.
Within hours, Labour's pledges were fraying. Mr Miliband was forced to confess that GB Energy might not cut family fuel bills by the promised £300. He also admitted Britain would need fossil fuels for years to come.
So why is he ending new North Sea oil and gas production before renewables are ready to take over (if they ever do)? By pursuing Net Zero with religious zeal, Labour will raise costs for households and business, make home heating a luxury and leave the UK vulnerable to costly imports from volatile countries, if not blackouts. The Mail fiercely believes in the duty to safeguard the planet for our children. We are proud Britain leads the way in tackling the potential threat of climate change.
GB Energy's raison d'etre is to build more wind and solar farms by encouraging and subsidising new investment - but having the nation reliant on renewable energy in six years is unlikely But this headlong dash to clean power is nothing short of a disaster in the making. Sir Keir has promised to lead a government 'unburdened by doctrine'. With this exhibition of eco-zealotry and virtue-signalling, how hollow that now rings.
Mob rule can't win The video footage of an armed policeman kicking and stamping on a suspect's head while making an arrest at Manchester Airport is deeply shocking. We demand the highest standards from officers and expect them to show restraint even under enormous provocation. The video footage of an armed policeman kicking and stamping on a suspect's head while making an arrest at Manchester Airport is deeply shocking The officer, who struck the Asian man as he lay on the ground, has rightly been suspended while the police watchdog investigates.
Yet it is important not to rush to judgment. The images, disturbing as they are, represent only one side of the story. Read More Mid-air argument sparked cop 'kick and stamp' Manchester Airport arrests Three of the PC's colleagues had just been attacked and hospitalised by a group of violent thugs.
Some will argue that given the risk of terrorism, airport police are trained to be aggressive. Others will say this is fresh evidence of police brutality and racism. Whatever the truth, it does not justify the ugly sectarian protests outside Rochdale police station, with some of the crowd seemingly chanting 'Allahu Akbar'.
Such troubling mob behaviour has, however, been on the rise recently. Only last week anarchy was unleashed in Leeds after Romanian children were taken into care. The aim is to force the authorities to cave in to their demands.
This can't happen. No group is above the law – and that includes the police. Keir Starmer Labour Manchester Airport Share or comment on this article: DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Sir Keir Starmer's green dream is just a lot of hot air e-mail Add comment More top stories.
