Nigel Lawson hekelt Britse obsessie met klimaatverandering

Eerder schreef ik dat dat Groot Brittannië nog steeds doorgaat met het geldverslindende volplempen van het land en omliggende wateren met windmolens, die noch uit het oogpunt van energiezekerheid, noch uit het oogpunt van vermindering van CO2-uitstoot tot het gewenste resultaat zullen leiden en derhalve volstrekt zinloos zijn. De weerstand daartegen groeit en lijkt nu ook tot Downing Street te zijn doorgedrongen. Een onlangs aangestelde energieadviseur van de Britse premier, Ben Moxham, heeft gewaarschuwd voor de nefaste financiële konsekwenties van het beleid.

Onder de titel, 'Environment policy reforms to add £300 to energy bills', schreef Andrew Porter daarover in de Britse 'Telegraph':

Household energy bills will rise by more than £300 a year as a result of the Coalition’s green policies, a senior Downing Street adviser has told David Cameron. Rising energy bills represent a problem for the Coalition at a time when wages are being squeezed and inflation is high.

The Prime Minister has been warned that government plans to get people to reduce their bills through efficiency measures are likely to fail. Mr Cameron’s senior energy adviser pours scorn on claims by Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, that rises in gas and oil prices will be offset by people using less power.

A note by the adviser describes his department’s analysis as “unconvincing”. It warns that the Government’s move to increased nuclear power, wind turbines and other measures will add 30 per cent to the average family’s annual energy bill of £1,069 by the end of the decade. Mr Cameron is said to be “very worried” about the figures in the paper, written by Ben Moxham, his senior energy adviser who was recently brought in to beef up the Prime Minister’s policy unit.

The private note, seen by The Daily Telegraph, is titled “Impact of our energy and climate policies on consumer energy bills”. It was sent to Mr Cameron and offers a blunt assessment of how Coalition energy plans, in particular a series of green policies, will affect householders. It concludes: “Over time it is clear that the impact of our policies on consumer bills will become significantly greater.” .

The disclosure that Mr Cameron’s own policies are likely to add “significantly” to the burden on householders will anger voters. Just two months ago, Mr Huhne described calculations by researchers at Cambridge University that the Coalition’s reforms would increase bills by 32 per cent as “rubbish”.

Lees verder hier.

Ook de voormalige minister van Financiën (onder Thatcher), Nigel Lawson, heeft zich in het debat gemengd en in een vernietigend artikel het energiebeleid van zijn partijgenoot, premier David Cameron, gehekeld. Met zulke politieke vrienden .

Onder de titel, 'It's time this Government grew up over climate change, says Nigel Lawson', rapporteert Mail Online daarover het volgende:

Former Tory chancellor Nigel Lawson says the Government's policy of 'decarbonising' is a threat to economic recovery The Coalition’s obsession with climate change is damaging Britain’s recovery from recession, former Tory chancellor Nigel Lawson warns today. Writing in the Daily Mail, Lord Lawson delivers a scathing assessment of David Cameron’s so-called ‘green agenda’ and says it is ‘time this Government grew up’.

Lord Lawson, one of the most respected Tory figures of recent decades, accuses the Prime Minister of risking Britain’s economy to make a ‘symbolic’ point. In a devastating verdict he writes: ‘The Government’s highly damaging decarbonisation policy, enshrined in the absurd Climate Change Act, does not have a leg to stand on. It is intended, at massive cost, to be symbolic: To make good David Cameron’s ambition to make his administration “the greenest government ever”. ‘My dictionary defines green as “unripe, immature, undeveloped”.’

His comments came after former Civil Service chief Lord Turnbull accused ministers and officials of pandering to global warming ‘alarmists’ and piling huge, unnecessary costs on ordinary families. Lord Lawson, Chancellor under Margaret Thatcher, goes further today, saying that plastering Britain with wind farms will push up bills to families and businesses without producing any real benefits. The switch to ‘low-carbon’ energy is expected to add £200 to annual energy bills. He writes: ‘This price increase would be economically damaging at the best of times; and these are not the best of times.’ And he warns the harm to business could be greater still, adding: ‘The economy is already recovering from the recession. ‘However, there is indeed a threat to that recovery and the bitter irony is that this is of the Government’s own making. ‘It is its so-called climate change policy of ‘decarbonising’ the British economy.’

He says it is ‘highly uncertain’ that higher carbon emissions will warm the planet to a dangerous extent and warns it is ‘futile folly’ for Britain to act alone when its emissions are two per cent of the global total.

Het artikel van Nigel Lawson is hier te vinden.

In het licht van deze hoogkaraatse oppositie - en nog wel uit eigen kring - en de weerklank die deze vindt bij de media en het publiek, verwacht ik dat het huidige Britse energiebeleid geen lang leven meer zal zijn beschoren. Het feit dat de 'persoonlijke notitie' van de energieadviseur van de PM, Ben Moxham, bij de media is terechtgekomen - zonder dat hij op staande voet is ontslagen - lijkt mij ook een indicatie te vormen van een ophanden zijnde beleidswijziging.

Daarbij zullen wel weer veel krokodillentranen vloeien.