Questions to the government

When will we get the £300 off energy bills promised in the election from backing more renewables?

How many more large rises in managed energy prices will the government put through before they might consider £300 off?

When will the government admit it cannot get to zero carbon electricity by 2030, and trying to will mean ever higher taxes?

Why did the government budget put up inflation and cut growth?

The government inherited the fastest growing G7 for the first half of 2024. Since they took over it is the slowest. When will the economy be the best again?

Small boat migration has gone up. So when will the government stop the people smugglers as promised?

Why did the government offer the Chagos islands to Mauritius and promise to pay to rent them back?

How much will the government spend on net zero policies next year?

Why won’t the government tell the Bank of England to rein in its losses by copying US and Euro area policies to handle their bonds?

How will the government store energy on sunny and windy days so there is power when the wind drops and the sun does not shine?

100 Comments

  1. Lifelogic
    November 23, 2024

    All good questions, I expected Starmer to be even worse than Cameron, May, Boris & Sunak but he has exceeded himself this government is hugely more appalling still. Destroying what little was left of the economy after Sunak’s tax borrow and waste agenda and pushing the lunacy of net zero even harder. Zero deterrent to crime, or boat arrivals. Two tier Kier, Cooper Balls, Scatological Lammy and mad zealot Milibrain four plus more years of this. God help us! The fault of 14 years of the Con-socialists and throw the towel in six months early Sunak.

    1. Ian Wraggg
      November 23, 2024

      The answer is there won’t be an answer
      Except for the Chagos islands they are pretty well following on from 14 years of mi’s management by the tories.
      All is going to plan where we are deprived of our livelihoods by the relentless increases in taxes and charges. The idea being that we can’t pay so government will take our assets as deferred payment.
      The boat invasion is designed to overwhelm the voting system with grateful liebour supporting immigrants.
      The fault with that is they will form their own party and take over
      All part of the WEF/UN playbook.
      Answer there was none.

      1. Martyn G
        November 23, 2024

        ….The idea being that we can’t pay so government will take our assets as deferred payment….
        Exactly – in fact the first event in line with that was in today’s early morning news it was suggested that the government could take over all farm lands and rent them back to the farmers. Heard that before in the past regarding Russian farmers after the revolution, I seem to recall…..

        1. Lynn Atkinson
          November 23, 2024

          And Zimbabwe….

    2. PeteB
      November 23, 2024

      Agreed LL. Doing what you said you’d do has become a rare commodity in a politician.
      I think that is where Trump gains votes. You may despise him however he will at least go in the direction he promised during campaigning.

    3. David Andrews
      November 23, 2024

      Good questions but there will be no answers from this Labour government. It’s modus operandi is (1) ignore all questions, (2) ignore it’s election manifesto pledges, (3) blame it’s predecessor for everything, (4) introduce badly or unresearched measures which have no electoral consent, (5) drive the UK economy and business activity into the ground.

      1. IanT
        November 23, 2024

        I think Starmer & Co believe they have four years to do pretty much what they want – and will do so.

        1. glen cullen
          November 23, 2024

          Who’s to stop them ?

      2. Berkshire Alan
        November 23, 2024

        Got it in one, or should I say five.
        Democracy and politicians past and present have failed us, not all, but it would seem the majority.
        Party politics and it’s sheep like voting has created a so called democratic dictatorship.

      3. Ed M
        November 23, 2024

        We know all that like we know penguins live in the Antartic. How do we build up the Tory Party so Labour don’t get back in and to build up our country, again?! Practical ideas. Effective ideas. Small and big.

        1. Original Richard
          November 23, 2024

          Ed M :

          No way do I want to see a return of the Tory Party who :

          Explosively demolished a coal fired power station on the way to an economy destroying Net Zero future.

          Invited mass legal immigration and even invited mass illegal immigration with offers of free accommodation and care that many of our own people would like to have bestowed upon them.

          Encouraged the woke to take over the Civil Service, institutions, quangos, judiciary, police and academia.

          1. Ed M
            November 23, 2024

            OK so you got Labour instead and you’re doing nothing proactive to try and put together an alternative. Just a big moan (apologies but that’s how it is).
            That’s why I’m seriously going to try and become a Tory MP even though there are probably about a million people more qualified than for me for the role. But not nearly enough people are queuing up for the job.

    4. Peter Wood
      November 23, 2024

      Watched an interview with Ben Habib, in essence he thinks Starmer will cause an economic crash with 2 or 3 years, owing to excess spending, less tax income and out of control borrowing causing a loss of confidence in £ and Gilts – watch out for sudden falls in exchange rates and rises in Gilt yields. People around in the late 1970’s will remember….

      1. Mickey Taking
        November 23, 2024

        It is a perfectly possible outcome.

      2. IanT
        November 23, 2024

        The attack line from the Left is “But look what Truss did to the economy!”

        The reality is that Truss wasn’t there long enough to do any real damage to the economy. Her budget caused a blip in Gilt Yields that was compounded by other events (such as LDI) that would most likely have hit us eventually anyway. The damage this government is doing is both real and slow burning. They are encouraging wage, energy and food inflation and raising debt levels. None of these things will be good for Sterling of course. The “Pound in Your Pocket” is going to worth a lot less and the damage caused will be permanent.

    5. Lynn Atkinson
      November 23, 2024

      It’s BETTER to have things so bad that they have to be changed. What kills you is the salami slicing year after year, calibrated to make you accept the increased pain.
      Starmer is going to save us because he is SO bad in every respect – unless of course he actually takes us to war against Russia – well that might be a catastrophic couple of days but at least it will be the last we hear from DeBretton Gordon!

    6. Ed M
      November 23, 2024

      Which is why we need to focus on rebuilding the Tory party. Just not happening in general. It’s like so many Tory voters / members / MPs passive about it and / or criticise but nothing proactive.

      1. Ed M
        November 23, 2024

        Or Reform taking votes from Tories.

      2. Lynn Atkinson
        November 23, 2024

        We need to deselect ALL Tory MPs and hold Selection interviews outside the power of Central Office. Then we need to start working for the proposed candidate now.

        1. Ed M
          November 23, 2024

          Fine. Whether that will work or not I don’t know. But at least you’re focusing on saying something positive. There are sooo many moaning Minnies in our society but no-one coming up with practical ideas about how to improve the Tory Party.

      3. Berkshire Alan
        November 23, 2024

        Ed
        Not enough real Conservatives left in the Conservative Party I am afraid, and they will put up more LibDems come the next election, so more of the past 14 years.
        Reform the only way to go now.

        1. Ed M
          November 23, 2024

          I’m Conservative (in every sense) – and I’m sticking to The Conservative Party. There aren’t enough good Reform MPs to make Reform anything radically better or more votable than the Tories.
          And what the Tory Party really needs to do is focus on building up our High Tech Industry, Car Industry, the North of England. Do something CREATIVE. Yes, cutting taxes is vital. But a company doesn’t becoming successful by having a good finance director. You need a strong CEO who is creative and able to help build the economy by helping the private sector in clever and imaginative ways (including investing in certain infrastructures).
          And we also need to need to work closer with those in churches, education, the media, the arts, to infill more positive Conservative values in our society. That Conservatism is just a purely political movement is a sort of modern heresy.

          1. Berkshire Alan
            November 24, 2024

            Ed
            Agree with much of what you say but newer Conservative politicians are just LibDems in disguise.
            The real Conservative thinkers are at the moment in REFORM, yes they have to attract far more people, and yes selection is always a problem for any Party, but you start with your ideals first, and I do not see true (small c) Conservative thoughts in many Conservative politicians at the moment, so I am going to support real change with new people, people voting for the old guard are in my opinion just going to hold it back, and will allow the present lot to continue.
            If you want real change, you have to vote for it.

    7. John Hatfield
      November 23, 2024

      It would appear that Starmer is deliberately trying to ruin the country.

  2. Lifelogic
    November 23, 2024

    How will the government store energy on sunny and windy days so there is power when the wind drops and the sun does not shine?

    Indeed not possible to do so cost effectively store as piles of coal and stores of gas is the best way by far. One they push more people onto EVs and heat pumps then on cold winter days they will need about ten times as much electricity as now and a grid and supply that can deliver this even with little wind and no sun . Most of the year this expensive extra capacity will be wasted. The mad policy is bound to fail.

    1. Mickey Taking
      November 23, 2024

      and what happens when a risk of shortage appears? All EV owners will plug in and load as much electricity as possible. Whether needed or not! Someone’s lighting going off is someone’s elses’s full car battery.

    2. glen cullen
      November 23, 2024

      As at 10:00hrs the wind energy generation on grid was 50% of 40GW demand and Interconnectors from Europe at 16% …now consider that wind-turbines are built and owned by foreign countries, they maybe described as imported energy, an energy that is switched off without wind ….and the Ftrench can switch off the interconnectors and charge anything they like at any time
      Not quite security of nor cheap energy as promised

      1. glen cullen
        November 23, 2024

        and £billions spent on taxpayer subsidies for chinese made solar energy ….and its only producing 0.7% energy to the grid …..I’d suggest again that this is imported energy

  3. Stephen Phillips
    November 23, 2024

    I can answer the energy storage question. They will put it where the sun doesn’t shine

  4. Mike Wilson
    November 23, 2024

    I wonder what our total generating capacity is.

    And what the plans are for, say, the next 10 years – in terms of which power sources will be retired and which new ones will replace them.

    As an aside, I read yesterday Lammy saying ‘we’ are ready to fight in Ukraine. Well, Lammy, you will NOT.be sending my sons off to fight. If you want to fight, get your boots and uniform on and off you go. I’ll pay their air fares to Australia if any of that old nonsense starts.

    1. Ian Wraggg
      November 23, 2024

      We have a theoretical generating capacity of about 70gw. The problem is 30gw is wind and 10 is solar.this leaves 40gw of despatchable energy.
      On dark windless days this means we have to rely on up to 8gw of imports and that figure will only grow.
      No matter how many windmills and mirrors Milibrain installs when there’s no wind or un we have to rely on imports.
      No sane person will invest in new CCGT plants when the green blob see the ad public enemy No.1 so we have to resort to dirty Open Circuit Gas Turbines (Drax) and unabated emergency diesels (STOR). It literally is all smoke and mirrors.

      1. jerry
        November 23, 2024

        @Ian Wragg; As much as I despise Ed Miliband, who was the brainless politico(s) over the last 14 who oversaw generating capacity, who authorized the closure of the last coal fired power stations, and on the issue of coal, who 30+ years ago over saw the closing of the UK coal mines, and then failed to get new nuclear?!

        Ed Miliband is in cloud cuckoo land with his green policies, but the Tories have also been in cloud cuckoo land too and folr far longer, at least Miliband has an excuse…

        1. John Hatfield
          November 23, 2024

          And there was me thinking it was Arthur Scargill who caused the closing of the UK coal mines by his continual pay demands and strikes.

          1. jerry
            November 23, 2024

            @John Hatfield; Funny, I seem to recall the government privatizing the UK coal industry in the mid 1990s, ten years after the 1984/5 strike! Even if Scargill did force the governments hand top close coal mines, succesive Govt messed up their planning to what comes after coal.

      2. Mike Wilson
        November 23, 2024

        Thank you for your reply. If total theoretical is 70gw and, of this, 30 gw is wind and 10 gw is solar – this means, I presume, that, if there is no wind and it is dark, we only have 30 gw of generating capacity? Yet you said it leaves 40 gw of despatchable energy? Where does the extra 10 gw come from?
        Recently we have been using 40 gw. If there was no wind, it was dark and there were no imports (because those exporting have none spare to export) – and we need 40 gw – would we be short of electricity?

        1. Ian wragg
          November 23, 2024

          Biomass and pumped storage plus various OCGT And energy from waste plants.

        2. Ian wragg
          November 23, 2024

          Check gridwatch Templar dashboard and you will see how desperate wr are.

      3. glen cullen
        November 23, 2024

        Correct

    2. Donna
      November 23, 2024

      Same here. I’d encourage my sons to get out of the country PDQ rather than fight this appalling Government’s war.

    3. Bill B.
      November 23, 2024

      A country’s Foreign Minister should act and talk like a diplomat, not like a war-hawk. Lammy is a disgrace.

    4. Mickey Taking
      November 23, 2024

      Lame ducky Lammy will have Putin quaking in his boots.

    5. Wanderer
      November 23, 2024

      @Mike Wison. +1 for your aside. I don’t want my child being conscripted either, as cannon fodder in an unnecessary war.

      Seeing the lame duck US administration authorising the supply of long range missiles to Ukraine (by the UK government and others) is appalling. In their fear and hatred of Trump the Dems and their neocon allies want to escalate the conflict to potentially disastrous levels. That our own supine, foolish politicians play along in this no-win-for-the UK policy is unforgiveable. They had the support of what, just 34% of those who voted?

      1. Bill B.
        November 23, 2024

        It’s time Trump spoke out against this insanity.

    6. Mitchel
      November 23, 2024

      Not just Lammy but newly crowned Kemi Badenoch(I just had to check that-I’d actually forgotten her name!) who told an interviewer this week “Ukraine is fighting a proxy war on behalf of the rest of Europe”.Care to be a bit more expansive on that,Kemi?

      For weeks we have had articles from Boris J,Ben Wallace and the usual plethora of Daily Telegraph stooges who propagandize for the Establishment urging that ‘we’ send British soldiers to Ukraine.

    7. beresford
      November 23, 2024

      Yes another question for Starmer AND Badenoch. Why are you escalating the forever war in Ukraine in a manner that invites retaliatory strikes against these islands?

  5. Lifelogic
    November 23, 2024

    Another good question to the government. Why are they not breaking down the excess death figures by Covid Vaccine status and indeed the stroke data. A new report shows that the number of people being admitted to hospital following a stroke has risen by 28% in the last 20 years, new NHS analysis has found. So why do we not have the data by year, vaccine status and for younger age groups? Just the increase from 2004 to 2024. Why too no mention of the Covid “vaccines” as a possible cause. Does the year by year data rule this out and why are they not publishing this and saying so. It seems to me the likely reason they are not publishing open date by year is that these Covid vaccines we part of the cause.

    If no the vaccines partly to blame why would they hide the temporal and vaccine status data as they clearly are doing? They clearly must have this and must have looked at it unless they are grossly incompetent.

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/2024/11/hospital-admissions-for-strokes-rise-by-28-since-2004-as-nhs-urges-the-public-to-act-fast/

    See the recent Dr John Campbell video on stokes. Let us hope Trump and Kennedy RFK Jr will get us some proper open and broken down figures very soon.

    1. Berkshire Alan
      November 23, 2024

      Strokes have increased over the last 20 years probably due to people shoving too much processed food and fat in their mouths, and not moving around as much as before.
      Covid and the vaccine has only been around for the last few years.
      Bye and large people choose what they put in their bodies, no one else !

    2. jerry
      November 23, 2024

      @LL; You call yourself a scientist, or at least educated to such a level, yet you appear (selectively) oblivious to the need to prove facts, in this case the true cause of excess deaths. Calling out Covid 19 vaccines, without the real evidence, just a statistical probability, is as invalid as trying to call out those who slept on their left-hand sides, or failed to use hypoallergenic pillows – although I bet those who want to sell more hypoallergenic pillows will argue it is more than just a statistical probability…

    3. hefner
      November 23, 2024

      LL, (Partial) answers to your questions might come from comparing results in:
      digital.nhs.uk ‘Mortality from stroke: number, by age group, annual, MFP’ for the years (1995-2020). Click on ‘data’, there are national numbers per year for men and women, then per county, then local authority.
      If it does not work try ‘files.digital.nhs.uk’ with same title (as it might depend on which browser one uses (?).
      This was published on 21/07/2022.

      As far as I was able to dig, I was not able to find anything more recent as ‘Compendium – Mortality from stroke’ 06/02/2023 was announcing that ‘NHS Digital is currently analysing the results of the consultation that closed on 14 September 2022’.

    4. hefner
      November 23, 2024

      Another mortality-related document: gov.uk 05/11/2024 ‘Mortality Profile commentary: November 2024’.

    5. G
      November 23, 2024

      @ Lifelogic

      If there is a correlation of the increase in strokes and Covid vaccine, could be concerning. To say the least.

      However, this would be a worldwide trend. Hard to prove categorically. Other factors have also been steadily increasing and could equally demonstrate a correlation.

      Complexity….👉

  6. Mark B
    November 23, 2024

    Good morning.

    It will not answer any of those as it sees itself as morally superior and therefore it can do not wrong. It is also ideologically wedded to its Marxist principles of wealth redistribution and will pursue policies (high taxes and inflation) to acheive that goal.

    Once they have realised that all those that could have been fleeced of their wealth have either left the country or have had it taken, they will then resort to those further down the wealth chain. All in the name of Equity, which is a nice and short way of saying: From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs. ie State theft !

    1. Dave Andrews
      November 23, 2024

      They already take it off those further down the wealth chain. Look at the farmers tax and suspension of WFA. Those at the top are too smart to leave their wealth within reach of HMRC.

      1. Ian B
        November 23, 2024

        @Dave Andrews – according to the Guido Website the single man(it doesn’t appear to be independently looked at or proposed – just one man and his dream) that invented the Farmers IHT wheeze wants it to go further and force farmers to be Nationalised, by them defaulting, then be permitted to be State Farm tenants.

    2. graham1946
      November 23, 2024

      Wealth re-distribution? Where? I haven’t seen any personally, just higher taxes and loss of Winter Fuel Allowance. The only wealth re-distribution I see is to overseas countries who despise us anyway. Billions available for overseas aid, putting up foreign criminals in hotels, helping foreigners ‘go green’, billions for public service pay rises, but not a dime for our own poorer people struggling to pay rip off energy prices and trying to keep warm and fed. They are at war with their own populace. And of course they can add to their own bank accounts. Whilst we cannot help old people and low paid keep warm, they can pay themselves heating allowances, get free gear from supporters, £300 plus a day for the Lords to kip in warmth and comfort. I’d like to see the heating tuned off in Westminster to see how they get on.

    3. Wanderer
      November 23, 2024

      +1. I’m lower down the wealth chain but can see trouble coming. Pensions not safe. ISAs probably a target soon. Inflation eroding value, and effectively reducing the income tax exempt allowance.

      What the heck can one do? We’ll all be burying little cashes of valuables in the ground soon, just as previous generations did when pillagers threatened.

      1. Ian B
        November 23, 2024

        @Wanderer – not as far down the wealth chain to be safe. Those with money and real wealth will if they haven’t already escape Labours claws, leaving the Government with a debt hole that has o come from somewhere. History has show those lowest down the chain proportional get to pay the most. Subsidies on EV’s are paid by those that cant afford new cars, if not cars at all.

    4. K
      November 23, 2024

      Importing more and more third world people and redistributing the wealth … until we are all third world.

      Labour’s policy and guiding ideology in a word ?

      Atonement.

      We must ALL atone for being successful and having had easy lives.

  7. agricola
    November 23, 2024

    Has this government the slighhtest clue as to what it is doing. Were they to have done absolutely nothing the prognosis would be better than it is today.
    All we have seen to date is incompetence on every front and the politics of envy. A Labour that arrived with 20% of the electorte’s support, governs for even fewer, and is blindly wrecking the country that was just begining to show signs of recovery. I would add, a recovery deliberately engineered to be unnecessarily slow by the other cheek of the Galloway identified backside. Whatever their plan is, they are late on parade, the EU is slowly moving in the other direction and the USA, fully supported by its electorate, is about to make a giant leap in the opposite direction.
    Does the process of death for Labour have to be so painfull for the UK. What can be done to terminate our agony while suffering the process.
    One might think that after 14 years in labour they would have conceived a plan for birth. In paying off the midwife, they arrive suffering every terminal defect imaginable. There is no plan acceptable to the electorate for as long as they remain in office. Their own family will not even attend the funeral.

  8. George Sheard
    November 23, 2024

    Hi sir John
    We are supposed to get cheaper energy in 2030 the trouble is a lot of us will have died
    From the cold by then getting chest infections and other cold related infections

  9. R.Grange
    November 23, 2024

    SJR, good questions in themselves, but with this government you might as well ask: When will pigs fly? An authoritarian regime isn’t answerable to anyone for its actions. The only question worth asking is what sort of alternative the opposition is offering, come the next opportunity to boot this lot out. I live within 15 miles of a nuclear weapons establishment, and Starmer’s insane brinkmanship committing an act of war against a nuclear power is putting me and all those around me under a terminal threat. I heard Badenoch being interviewed about the missile strike on Russia, and just repeating some carefully worded platitudes. I didn’t hear her condemn Starmer for recklessly gambling on the safety of our country, all to keep a failed war going.

    1. Mitchel
      November 23, 2024

      It’s the utter desperation of the British Establishment-it’s over for the west,and it’s OVER for the UK in particular.

      Russia’s UN ambassador,Vasily Nebenzya,responding to the oafish Lammy this week:”Even in the 21st century it is difficult for Great Britain to leave Ukraine and Russia alone-the genes of the colonizers are telling.We advise you to forget about attempts to defeat Russia on the battlefield.The Russian Federation will only be satisfied with a solution that eliminates the root causes of the Ukraine crisis.”

      Viktor Orban addressing the Budapest Eurasia Forum yesterday:”The 500 year era of western civilization’s dominance has come to an end and the age of Eurasia is dawning.For several centuries the west has been accustomed to thinking of itself as the most beautiful,the most intelligent,the most advanced and the wealthiest.To suddenly see and acknowledge that we are no longer the most beautiful,intelligent,advanced and wealthy is a challenging task.

      The coming era will be the century of Eurasia.Hungary must define its place in this new reality independently,rather than derive it from a European strategy.”

      (As I have mentioned here before Hungary has sought and been given membership of the Organization of Turanian(Turkic) States which has seriously annoyed the Eurofanatics.The Hungarians are reconnecting with their asiatic past-their core ethnic group,the Magyars,migrated from central asia towards the end of the first millennium.Further de-globalization in action!)

  10. Donna
    November 23, 2024

    Oh, I expect the £300 reduction in energy bills is planned for 6 months before the next GE …. after they’ve increased them by £1000.

    John Rentoul used to have a column in The Independent called “Questions to which the answer is No.”

    Sir John seems to be going into competition with a column called “Questions which the Government won’t answer.” Perhaps he should direct them to the WEF since they’re controlling governance of this country via their Labour puppet politicians, just as they were their “Conservative” ones.

    1. beresford
      November 23, 2024

      Tch, didn’t JR tell us all that he would reject submissions which imply that national governments are being controlled by globalists. Why can’t you accept that these governments are spontaneously and independently adopting these policies which are against the interests and wishes of their electorates?

      1. R.Grange
        November 23, 2024

        So our government happens to be ‘spontaneously and independently’ doing what the UN wants on e.g. climate change, DEI, and migration. Uh-huh.

  11. Rod Evans
    November 23, 2024

    Sir John, you are asking all the right questions, questions we all want answers to . Sadly the obfuscation departments of government will ensure we never receive an answer.
    This Labour government promised many things and have failed to deliver. Here we are not yet six months since the election and Labour have already broken their manifesto promise on taxation, broken their promise on migration control and clearly have increased the scale of the state authority over our lives by insisting people venting their frustrations and views on line are actually jailed for over two years!!!
    What will they put in place over the next few years? The giving away the Chagos islands is a crime. The main legal advocate for that crime, the very man advising the Mauritian government, was and is, a personal friend and former colleague of Kier Starmer. They even shared the same chambers during Starmer’s legal profession.
    If blatant insider activities such as that is considered acceptable what else what other sharp practice will they normalise?

  12. Peter Gardner
    November 23, 2024

    Presumably you don’t expect any answers.
    Meanwhile the forced Soviet collectivisation of farming and elimination of the kulaks is proceeding apace. You might like to ask also:
    a) What is the target date by when at least 50% of England’s agricutural land is to be in state or corporate ownership?
    b) Are illegal immigrants to be made tenants of state owned farms in place of the kulaks?
    c) Is the Government intending to invest in a new state owned factory dedicated to electric tractor production?

  13. Bryan Harris
    November 23, 2024

    These are the sort of question the Tory opposition should be asking on a regular basis, but it seems nobody with any authority, and that includes MSM, is willing to press the government on its treachery.

    How is it that HMG is allowed to get away with so much pain and deceit, while just one of the questions listed would have been enough to kill off a government in times past.

    There are plenty of other questions we should be asking, but any answers would only provide us with false stories. No, it is time to take a different approach to rogue government action.

    If I had the money, I would have investigated for personal connections and financial gain anyone pushing netzero on us and helping to stifle the UK with irrational legislation and activities.

  14. Narrow Shoulders
    November 23, 2024

    How much carbon does each immigrants use?

    How much carbon do we actually use per head, do not leave out production and manufacturingin other countries?

    Is this figure going up or down?

    Is offshoring the accounting of carbon increasing or decreasing use per capita?

    What is the purpose of carbon accounting?

    1. Donna
      November 24, 2024

      The UN has told us the purpose:

      “U.N. climate chief Christina Figueres pointedly remarked, the true aim of the U.N.’s 2014 Paris climate conference was “to change the [capitalist] economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution.”

  15. William Long
    November 23, 2024

    All good questions that the Opposition should be asking, though l have missed it if they are. What surprises me, is that you should think that the Government have answers to any of them.

  16. Wanderer
    November 23, 2024

    Is the Opposition asking these questions? Is the media? A lot of people are still only barely aware of the disastrous policies of this government.

  17. Keith from Leeds
    November 23, 2024

    Whatever question you ask, you won’t get an answer. What is amazing is how unprepared Labour was for government and how quickly they broke their election promises. The only question that needs an answer is how much damage they will do to the UK.

  18. Roy Grainger
    November 23, 2024

    Good questions. Add to them Why do they never mention nuclear power which is the only way to even attempt to achieve their decarbonisation goals ? Are they even in favour of nuclear power ?

    OT I see the CEO of Jaguar says those criticising their new ad are guilty of “vile hatred and intolerance”. That’s us told ! Non-crime hate incidents incoming.

  19. Ian B
    November 23, 2024

    Why do we have to pay in more, by way of direct priced-in subsidies and levies than any promised £300 might bring?

    Why does is the UK one of the highest priced nations in the World, and why is the Government still forcing them UP?

    Why as taxpayer are we also then paying to restructure the UK’s Power structure if it is able to reduce our Bills?

    Why are Foreign Nationalised Industries making more from the UK Taxpayer than UK home grown industry?

    Why are we importing more and more fossil fuel produced goods, by the most CO2 consuming methods at greater price when our own resourced are still in the ground?

    Why are we importing fossil fuels when we still have our own in the Ground?

    Why do the most Polluting Nations, our trading competitors NOT have similar laws as the UK to ban Industry and Commerce. More than 185 of the 197 worlds nations do not have Government ‘Cancel’ laws.

  20. Bryan Harris
    November 23, 2024

    More questions HMG should face with more treachery from red Ed and the nutzero brigade

    The boiler tax is back, in the shape of legislation that require 6% of boiler installations be heat pumps.

    Energy price cap rises as Starmer pulls winter fuel payments

    Ofgem’s announcement on Friday means the price cap will rise from £1,717 a year for a typical dual-fuel household paying by direct debit to £1,738 from January 1.

    Car firms threaten to pull out of the UK – They could disappear completely

    It was “probable” car firms would leave the UK without a huge subsidy package similar to the billions in support the US is providing

    There seems to be no limit to the cost and pain Starmer is willing to inflict on households to allow ministers to grandstand about netzero

  21. glen cullen
    November 23, 2024

    Maybe they just lied on their manifesto, cv and speeches at election ….ya know, to get votes

  22. FrankH
    November 23, 2024

    I can answer your first question: “When will we get the £300 off energy bills promised in the election from backing more renewables?”
    Once there are enough renewables to destabilise the grid and cause lengthy blackouts, that’s when our electricity bills will go down. They can’t really charge us for not supplying us with electricity, can they? Or can they?

    1. Original Richard
      November 23, 2024

      FrankH : “They can’t really charge us for not supplying us with electricity, can they? Or can they?”

      Do you not have “standing charges”?

  23. formula57
    November 23, 2024

    Leadership, direction, purpose all seem lacking, as does a sense of realism. Having only come to power in July, that is quite an achievement from Starmer and his talentless pals.

    New Labour-like, perhaps we will be told the £300 energy bill reduction was “an aspiration, not a commitment”.

  24. oldwulf
    November 23, 2024

    Dear Mr Starmer

    What did you discuss with Bill Gates and with Larry Fink ?

    1. Ian B
      November 23, 2024

      @oldwulf – that wouldn’t be a discussion that would be getting orders, the ESG blackmail that fights the market and the very freedom that cause markets

    2. Diane
      November 24, 2024

      Oldwulf: ‘ Forced Behaviours’ perhaps … ?
      Plenty of those still in evidence, others re emerging and more forthcoming no doubt.

  25. Barbara
    November 23, 2024

    We are basically having to pay for two parallel energy generation systems – one which works and one which doesn’t. And all their efforts are directed towards removing the last remnants of the one which does work.

  26. Denis Cooper
    November 23, 2024

    Yesterday I suggested another question to the Traditional Unionist Voice MP Jim Allister and those other unionist MPs who are supporting his Private Members’ Bill to restore the territorial and constitutional integrity of the UK, which will receive its Second Reading on December 6:

    https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3780

    The question being: “How much is Boris Johnson’s EU trade deal actually worth to the UK economy?”.

    A question that the government declined to answer when I put in a Freedom of Information Request in January, meaning that we have to fall back on the EU Commission estimate that it might be worth 0.75% of UK GDP – a very small mess of pottage for which Boris Johnson was willing to see our country split up.

  27. glen cullen
    November 23, 2024

    Question to government
    Why are we about to agree to give £300bn (share of) to less developed countries at UN COP29 ….when climate change/net-zero/global warming is all a scam

    1. Berkshire Alan
      November 23, 2024

      glen
      Because they can, and you can do nothing about it for 5 years.
      They actually believe that they can change the Climate and Nature !

      Why are we giving African Farmers £500 million a year, the same sum that the Government are going to take from our own Farmers.
      They live in an alternative dream world because they themselves have no skin in the game, it costs them nothing.!

      1. glen cullen
        November 23, 2024

        Agree – and I still don’t see any difference between the last tory government and this new labour one !

      2. Donna
        November 24, 2024

        No, they don’t believe they can change the climate … but they do believe they can redistribute the world’s wealth, level down the west and empower globalist acronym organisations ….. leading to a one-world socialist government.

  28. Ian B
    November 23, 2024

    ‘MoD under fire for importing eco-friendly steel rather than buying British. Net zero wokery blamed for betraying thousands of skilled workers.’ It goes on… “Tata will be importing steel!
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/23/mod-steel-imports-electric-arc-furnaces-defence-industry/

    Furnaces powered by electricity produced by the most expensive electricity, loaded with levies and subsidies that our Competing Nations on the World stage are not burdened with, was instigated by The May Government laws, continued by Johnson, Sunak and now Starmer, they have exported jobs, they have exported UK wealth and have ‘given’ foreign entities ‘taxpayer money’ to ensure this happens. They Have increased so-called World Pollution and Global Warming, by another magnitude – so does this mean they were lying.

    To rub it in, we are importing steel from Tata after giving them taxpayer money to close down UK Production. The contradiction by the unthinking, is it ‘thinking’ or deliberate acts of our MP’s and Parliament, those we pay and empower, is they have achieved the opposite of what they told us. They (our Parliamentarians & the BLOB) are using our money to destroy us.

    Tata’s Indian new steel plant, India’s largest, has a production capacity of about 1.5 million metric tons per year, bringing its coking coal requirement to about 2.1 MMt/y. ‘ coking coal!’. Did they need this new plant seemingly now paid with UK Taxpayer money just to fulfil their commitment to send steel to the UK?

    Emission from coal burning in one part of the World affects the whole World. UK produced coking coal would be less damaging.

  29. Michael Staples
    November 23, 2024

    Good questions to which Labour ministers will have no rational answers. Almost everyone of their policies will do the reverse of what they claim. Net Zero is already and will continue to do the most harm but the unreformed public sector tax & spend is close behind.

  30. Keith Murray-Jenkins
    November 23, 2024

    Many questions, Sir John…Fate is testing us once more and big time. It’s all part of the ‘rubbish’ before something much better. Betcha. Patience always a virtue…(Tell me, please…are you having your once-regular pre-Xmas gathering in London. If so, how does one receive notice of it?)…I’m on LinkedIn FYI. Cheers…

  31. Original Richard
    November 23, 2024

    Net Zero is not only economic suicide but also military suicide.

    How can it be safe to deindustrialise so we cannot make steel and munitions and hence military equipment?

    How can it be safe to transition to intermittent and unreliable renewables and put all our energy eggs into one energy basket, electrification, when there is no plan or even an economic method to store grid-scale electricity ? Or even electricity safely and long-term at any scale?

    How can it be safe to electrify everything and make our grid the biggest hacking target in the world? Or completely destroyed by a Carrington event?

    How can it be safe for China, a state described by our security services as “hostile”, to supply all our energy infrastructure – wind turbines, solar panels, the metals and minerals for motors, generators, batteries and cabling?

    How can it be safe for our energy infrastructure to be spread out over half the North Sea? How will our depleted armed services protect all the wind turbines and undersea cables from air and submarine drones? Or all the vast expanses of solar panels? No undersea cable or pipe is safe today, as seen with Nord Stream 2 and the recent attacks on Baltic Sea internet cabling?

    How can it be safe to electrify our armed services – aircraft, ships, tanks ? How will they be re-charged on the battlefield or at sea? Or in the air?

    1. Michael Staples
      November 23, 2024

      And why is it that the majority of the current crop of Conservative MPs, let alone Labour MPs, cannot see that?

  32. Ed
    November 23, 2024

    Milliband is spending £22 billion on taking plant food out of the air.
    How much plant food did the eruption in Iceland put in ?

    1. glen cullen
      November 23, 2024

      Milliband would argue that volcanoes erupting ”isn’t” man-made ….ironically they do see fosil fuels, coal, gas & oil as being man-made, when we use it

  33. glen cullen
    November 23, 2024

    It takes 2-3,000 tonnes of concrete, 1,000 tonnes of steel, 400 tonnes of sand and aggregate for the base foundations of a single onshore wind-turbine and another 1,000s of concrete to build approach & supporting roads ….. not very green for 1 wind-turbine
    Thats without the imported wind-turbine motor, blades & mast ….not forgetting 6-10 tonnes of copper

  34. Geoffrey Berg
    November 23, 2024

    So with all these governmental failures and broken promises opportunity knocks for…Nigel Farage (who is not lumbered with the last discredited government).
    However it is only a real opportunity for someone who can put forward an attractive and credible vision for people’s future which must, at least in part be an economic vision. I am far from convinced Nigel Farage (who seems to be a nationalist without too much interest in economics, as it seemed to me when I heard and spoke to him briefly during the EU Referendum campaign) can seize that opportunity. Without a stand-out visionary leader the right will to be too divided to win, especially as Starmer’s most notable ability is an ability to learn from his mistakes (for instance though the Budget was much more costly it was not as damaging to Labour as removing the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance because he has already learned to make his tax increases indirect rather than directly out of people’s pay packets).
    Can’t we persuade Donald Trump when he is finished leading America to come over and lead us?

  35. Passingby
    November 23, 2024

    I read where the Royals are exempt from all inheritance tax and then I read that it cost the rag payer 72 million for Charles Coronation – it’s about time Government reviewed all of this nonsense

    1. glen cullen
      November 23, 2024

      Concur

Comments are closed.