The importance of expanding homegrown energy production extends far beyond the borders of Scotland. The domestic supply chain workforce spans from Shetland to Southampton, with job opportunities in almost every parliamentary constituency.
Palace Yard is a new cross-party policy and research institute that aims to help politicians get to grips with this country’s long-term challenges.
It took a long time for voters to grasp the need for Britain to live within its means during the 1960s and 1970s. It may do so again.
The Prime Minister asked for a “grown-up” approach to energy. Here are the policies required to deliver it.
Even a strong case would struggle to overcome the imbalance between distributed gains and concentrated costs – but it might focus minds.
Effectively, for much of the population, UBI would merely take their money and then give it back to them. What’s the point?
If artists are so unwilling to accept the support of industrial companies, perhaps they should be prepared to live off box office receipts alone.
With average household energy bills around £1000 a year, it would be a cut of about £50 per year per family.
When we account for how much energy we use at home, British families are not facing ever-rising bills for gas and electricity.
Ofgem should introduce a new ‘low-carbon gas obligation’ in the next price control framework from April 2021. This would enable the UK to decarbonise its heating sectorat the lowest possible cost.
We have the technology. Being a world leader in carbon capture and storage attractive can make us a destination for inward investment in clean energy.
The gaps it potentially addresses and the interest shown abroad suggests it at least merits consideration here ias a complement to renewable power generation and electric vehicles.
Rather than price caps and nationalisations, there is a chance to help consumers with tax cuts and regulatory reform.
It is absurd to set a strictly political timetable for the wholesale transfer of an industrial economy to unproven technologies.