The Labour government, led by eco-zealot Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has been forced to accept that net zero levies are doing too much damage to businesses, which are struggling to keep up with rising electricity costs.
As a result, power bills will be cut by up to 25% for around 7,000 “electricity intensive” manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace and chemicals sectors, among others, by exempting them from some costly ‘green’ schemes.
Officials said in a government release that they were “tackling” some of the “biggest barriers facing UK industry” which have “held back growth and made it harder for British firms to compete.” Could there be a more damning indictment of the net zero agenda?
Even Starmer hailed the “removing [of] the barriers that hold us back”—that is to say, the green barriers introduced by eco zealots like himself, both from Labour and the Conservatives.
Typically, ministers were careful not to go too far down the right track on net zero, stressing still that “the government’s long-term mission for clean power … is the only way to bring down bills for good by ending the UK’s dependency on volatile fossil fuel markets.”
Scottish Conservative Andrew Bowie said it would be better to “just admit net zero by 2050 is unaffordable,” and summarised Labour’s net zero plan for businesses:
Spend billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on businesses’ energy bills to offset green levies to stop them going bust!
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith added that “ALL business sectors—such as retail and hospitality also need lower energy costs—not just some.”
Others have criticised the fact that these measures will not be introduced until 2027, by which time many companies are likely to have been priced out of business.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
