Last night just 19 of us voted against the Energy Bill. The Bill was supported by Labour, SNP, Lib Dems , and the Green MP. These parties tried to amend it to stop UK oil and gas earlier and to increase the costs on UK business more. The Conservative government voted these unhelpful amendments down with large majorities but stuck with a Bill which intervenes too much with peopleās preferences and with an energy market already distorted by windfall taxes, subsidies and complex rules.
We had too little time to debate it as the united parties stuck with a timetable motion that allowed backbenchers around just 2 hours to discuss 426 pages of law and 146 amendments. Because there were 6 votes there was no time for any debate on Third reading which would have provided chance to review the Bill as amended.
In my time restricted remarks I stressed the need to carbon account more realistically. As energy policy is driven by net zero rather than by affordability and availability it is important to count carbon sensibly. It makes no sense for the UK to tax and price and regulate the end of high CO 2 activities here if we simply import the high energy goods from somewhere else adding to world CO 2 totals. It makes no sense to dump your petrol car early to buy an electric car if you do not do a high mileage as the CO 2 generated by making the EV and destroying the petrol car will be greater than the savings in use. When looking at CO 2 outcomes you cannot assume all UK electricity is green when we often generate more than half from gas. When assessing the electrical revolution you need to include all the CO 2 generated by making steel for new pylons, by smelting new copper for cables, making new bitumen to repair the roads after digging them up to put in cables, all the CO 2 in mining the materials for batteries and fabricating them.
September 6, 2023
Good morning.
You know when you see the above, you know something evil this way comes.
September 6, 2023
@Mark B +1
Finally this Government is showing what is meant by being ruled(not governed) by an extreme left wing Socialist WEF Grouping( I am trying to be insulting, but as it is true I have wasted my time)
The Conservative Party lied to get elected now we all pay the price
September 6, 2023
And why did so many Tory MPs back the bill ….maybe because most of the Tory MPs are followers of green & socalist policies
September 6, 2023
Uni-party All of the same cloth. Different narrative and coloured rosetteās, nothing else.
September 6, 2023
+++
We therefore must all fold our (pricking) thumbs into the palms of our hands. A good precaution I read against the supernatural.
And surely, as you imply, we are not witnessing anything good and wholesome at work?
September 6, 2023
+1. But then:
“The Conservative government… stuck with a Bill which intervenes too much with peopleās preferences and with an energy market already distorted by windfall taxes, subsidies and complex rules.”
September 6, 2023
I checked the record of the division. The tellers recorded 280 votes in favour. The actual list of names comes up short at 277, including Matt Hancock and Bob Roberts and 275 Conservatives. None of the opposition appear to have voted for the Bill itself, rather than the amendments. The opposition came from the DUP, Andrew Bridgen and 9 Conservatives: in addition to Sir John we can thank those listed here.
https://votes.parliament.uk/votes/commons/division/1628#noes
Perhaps the other 3 who voted in favour will admit their folly and be recorded in the formal list.
There are 62 Conservatives with no vote recorded. I find it astonishing that that list includes Grant Shapps MacCavity and Graham Stuart, who are the DESNZ ministers who oversaw the bill. A clear demonstration that the bill should never have been submitted to parliament in the first place.
The Bill commanded the support of well less than half the House. Starmer can conveniently point out that Labour didn’t vote for it when it all blows up later. However they will have no clue how to fix it, especially while Miliband runs their energy policy.
Reply Labour made clear their support for the Bill but wanted it to go further in decarbonising.
September 6, 2023
Indeed we do. It’s time for a Referendum on Net Zero and its implications to our Country. When the unipart agrees we know they are always wrong. EU anyone?
September 6, 2023
Moderation, balance and meeting priorities should be present goal.It sounds simple but materialism has taken over with all it’s waste products left around to cause an abundance of non reusable rubbish and the priorities,such as infected seas due to the spilling of raw sewage cause more problems that are not addressed early enough.Maintaining what we have is just as important.”Only do what you can manage ” has been forgotten and replaced by ‘meet the problems when we are in debt and a crisis occurs.’
September 6, 2023
I was very concerned how quickly the government became unnecessarily authoritarian when they imposed the draconian covid restrictions. Now it seems they are making a habit of it.
In the new Energy Bill it seems that your party wants to dictate to home owners what changes they must make to their properties (in the blinkered headlong pursuit of net zero) and take sanctions against those that do not comply!
And this from a supposed freedom-loving Conservative Party!
Where have the traditional free market principles gone?
September 6, 2023
I agree that the Covid period has turned the government mad, power mad!
But the net zero ideology is just that, an ideology much like a cult! It’s very contagious, sending previously sensible and clear thinking people mad. But that’s the intention of those behind it all.
September 6, 2023
+1.
I certainly could never vote for any MPs who supported this appalling energy bill or indeed Sunakās dire Windsor Framework. This Government is far removed for real Conservative values of small efficient government, low taxes, economic competence and real Freedom and choice. They are tax to death, inflate, regulate to death, piss down the drain, market rigging Socialists.
September 6, 2023
This energy bill has nothing to do with homegrown energy, its to do with imported energy, storage, ESG and the futherance of net-zero
September 6, 2023
Con-socialists to a man other than just perhaps 19 it seems! Nothing remotely real Conservative about them. Tax, borrow, print, waste and regulate to death. Then block the roads, rig the energy, transport, banking, healthcare & housing markets and have wars on motorists, the self employed, small businesses and landlords (thus tenants). Also coerce duff vast net harm Covid vaccines on young people who never had any need for them for good measure!
Sunak clearly choosing to allow the vast ULEZ tax to continue. Failing on all five of his pledges too.
September 6, 2023
Thank God for the DUP. And the usual sound Tories diminishing though that number be.
Not one Labour MP stood up to this latest idiocy. Gerrymandering the figures so they can command the support of the shallow and lazy.
The whirlwind commeth! Even the worm will turn.
September 6, 2023
Indeed, so just 19 Tory MPs whom I could possibly vote for. This energy bill is another appalling piece of totally misguided regulation and economic vandalism.
September 6, 2023
9 Tories. The rest were the DUP and Bridgen.
September 6, 2023
@ Lynn Atkinson +1 – Any surprise? We have and extreme left wing Socialist Government they have cancelled Conservatism
September 6, 2023
If only 19 Conservative MPs voted against this disgraceful authoritarian Bill, which is written by Green incompetent zealots and will wreck the UK economy and standard of living, there is no point in those genuine Conservative MPs staying in the party for the remaining year. All of the opposition most of the Lords, the cabinet, the PM and King are behind this ‘military style campaign ‘, as KC3 called it. Resign and join with a Conservative Reform Party. You are going to lose your jobs anyway when the electorate see the mess already being created by energy policies, the attack on the private rental sector and the proxy war.
September 6, 2023
Correct
September 6, 2023
This Worm has already turned Lynn. People have to realise that this mindless ‘green’ religion is going to ruin us and not make any effective difference to global climate change.
September 6, 2023
Depriving the plant life of CO2 will turn the land brown. Green is a misnomer.
September 6, 2023
It’s the cost to ordinary Brits when they see the Bill’s coming as a direct consequence of net stupid. They just don’t see what’s coming yet.
September 6, 2023
The fact that a mere 19 MP’s on the right of the party voted against the Energy Bill shows how out-of-touch they are with the realities of the climate crisis – and political opinion in the UK.
While the “liberalisation” of the planning restrictions on onshore renewables infrastructure is indeed welcome, it remains to be seen how it will work in practice. The fossil fuel lobby will doubtless find ways to continue to block onshore developments
Manufacturing an ICE car generates 4.5 times the CO2 than an electric car (source SMMT) Indeed, with the lifetime of an average EV estimated at 150,000 miles, the amount of CO2 saved by EV’s not burning petrol/diesel far outweighs any CO2 produced by making them.
September 6, 2023
“Manufacturing an ICE car generates 4.5 times the CO2 than an electric car”
That’s not what Volvo (or indeed Volkswagon) reported when they compared the CO2 generated in manufacturing the same model in ICE vs EV formats SG
“Having announced that it will sign the Glasgow Declaration on Zero Emissions Cars and Vans at COP26, a study by Volvo Motors says that the manufacturing process of its C40 Recharge electric coupe-SUV generates 70 percent more emissions than that of the ICE-powered XC40 counterpart”
September 6, 2023
Sakara wrong, wrong, & wrong.
Manufacturing an ICE car generates 4.5 times the CO2 than an electric car DRIVEL keeping you old ICE car far better for CO2 and far cheaper.
āwith the lifetime of an average EV estimated at 150,000 milesā Wrong most are low mileage second city cars 80k far nearer the mark,
āthe amount of CO2 caused by EVās not burning petrol/diesel far outweighs any CO2 produced by making themā. Not at all most are not even charged on low carbon electricity as we have non free! Just emissions elsewhere cars and usually more emissions.
Politically net zero is a disaster once people realise the vast costs and total pointlessness of it!
REPLY
September 6, 2023
This is not The Magic Roundabout. Go and tell your fairytales somewhere else.
September 7, 2023
I am more interested in objective information based on thorough testing and not what is written as evidence. Here say has very little weight attached to it . As a Nursing sister of a research Unit , my eyes were opened when the criteria for inclusion into research was power balanced and far from objectivity.
These petty conflicts are silly.
September 6, 2023
The “reality” of the so-called climate crisis is that it only exists in warped and easily manipulated computer models which have been carefully designed to show that the world is getting warmer.
There IS no consensus amongst the Scientific community. Just one side of the argument which is paid to provide the “evidence” the UN/WEF require and the other side which loses funding and is silenced because it doesn’t comply.
September 6, 2023
Life has become a crime and people are still giving their electoral support to these repulsive, morally bankrupt snakes. It reminds me of the naive and the destitute who cast their vote for a psychopathic madman in Germany in 1932. We should all be truly fearful of the direction of travel and its eventual terminal
We have millions of voters now voting for politicians they do not know, understand nor appreciate how dangerous they are.
This bill is not the end of the establishment’s authoritarian power grab but merely the start of the descent into a world that no one wants to go
September 6, 2023
DOM, ++++++. And, I must add, you do not overstate the case, and we have to decide whether the mass vote in favour is attributable to stupidity or wickedness.
September 6, 2023
So-called Green MPs are dangerously red.
September 6, 2023
Thus demonstrating what I wrote yesterday “You are one of a tiny handful of sane and independent-of-thought MPs, Sir John.”
Of course, it wasn’t just supported by Labour, SNP, Lib Dems , and the Green MP ….. it was supported by a very large contingent of Pretend-Conservative MPs …… and imposed by a Sunak-led Junta which has no democratic mandate.
There was effectively no debate on the Energy Bill yesterday; it was rammed through using a parody of a Parliamentary debate. The electorate has been, and is, presented with a CONsensus on the Net Zero Lunacy. There is no way to reject it at the ballot-box, thanks to the stitched-up Westminster-Uni-Party and FPTP electoral process. When the so-called democratic process fails, the only alternative is direct action ….. which is what the Blade Runners are currently demonstrating in London.
I will be voting against the tyrannical Westminster-Uni-Party at the next General Election.
September 6, 2023
Yet more evidence that chumps are in charge.
September 6, 2023
Parliament again working for the people!
It is not a second Thatcher that we need (as I had thought hitherto) but a second Cromwell.
September 6, 2023
Thomas or Oliver?
September 6, 2023
Obviously Oliver. Silly question.
September 6, 2023
Yes. But how many great men can one small nation throw up? There is a video of Putin speaking to schoolchildren about traditional values based on the family. He had the letters his grandfather wrote to his Uncle, who was in the forces. It spoke of the death of his grandmother – she was shot in the stomach and died in her husbands arms. They both knew she was dying but she said to him ādonāt cry and upset meā. Putin marvelled that at that time she was worried about him – and stated that the great deep love between people and the families the found is the basis of our civilization.
These ātraditional valuesā are so familiar to me. They are western, European and British values nd none of us needed to be ātaughtā them. The words of this careful lawyer, this kind man, this brave man Putin should ring in our ears.
These are the values for which we must fight. They are OURS! The debauchery and violence of the Notting Hill Carnival has nothing to do with us and must be expunged along with much else, from England.
September 6, 2023
Only 19 dissenting, in the face of “Uniparty” backing across the board? Sounds like an echo of the Commons vote on Ed Miliband’s Climate Change Act.
With time ticking away before the last possible date before the next GE, it is difficult to avoid concluding that the only way effectively to denounce a policy programme that no one wants and no one voted for would involve a concerted and high profile switch of allegiance in the same manner – preferably on a larger scale – as that of Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless 9 years ago. The Conservative Party’s members and core supporters would not in turn be deserting the party: the party has already deserted them.
September 6, 2023
Carswell and Reckless are both out of The House. Carswell is culpable for many Lib Demās winning seats under the blue rosette – it was his idea to allow the whole constituency to select the Tory candidate. They imposed Lib Dems who were then duly elected. This is an even worse idea than allowing Central Office to select the shortlist of candidates! And that is saying a lot.
I wish I could select the Labour Candidates!
September 6, 2023
The Conservative Government ā Punishment and Control. This Conservative Government, cancel history, cancel free speech.
Releasing people, releasing markets is against its principles. Hiding truth to hold the Country back. Cancelling UK production. Give taxpayers money to the Worlds polluters.
Anything that is anti UK is the new Conservative Mantra coming from the top.
September 6, 2023
Thanks for voting for common-sense John, shame so few of you in Parliament actually have it.
Words fail me to describe the farce that is supposed to be debate and democracy, and when such limited time is allowed for such important issues.
September 6, 2023
So much for democracy.
September 6, 2023
This bill is the greatest assault on peoples freedom, it is dictatorial and punative. That a conservative party have dreamt it up is utterly unbelievable.
We have to put up with it for about a year and then remove this clutch of useless MPs. My hope is that Reform will progressively get behind the serial incompetence of this government and the opportunist so called opposition. They are the only hope the UK has.
September 6, 2023
Adendum.
This assault by big government and the WEF philosophy on the British people should be answered by the 19 MPs who voted against this bill, by them upping sticks and joining Reform en masse. Conservative thinking is in a fight for survival or death.
The people are being driven to the illegal destruction of ULEZ cameras. There are many similar examples in our history, be they Tollluddle Martyrs, or Poll Tax protesters. It is a dire state of affaires when a rogue parliament and illigitimare government are so active against their own citizens that some of those citizens are forced to break the law. We want a government that works for its people, not for a globalist agenda that is against its people. George Orwell was ahead of the game but absolutely correct in his predictions from Animal Farm and 1984. That is exactly what we are dealing with today.
September 6, 2023
Allegedly, George Orwell was briefly a member of The Club of Rome, as was Aldous Huxley…
Were they witness to the long term plans?
September 6, 2023
The 19 MPs who voted against the lunacy don’t have the guts or, in appears, the integrity to abandon the Blue-Green Socialist Party they are now in.
September 7, 2023
I think the DUP is not a Blue-Green Socialist Party. It’s an odd feeling for me: when I was young and living and working in Northern Ireland I felt disenfranchised by the polarised sectarian politics that had little to say about national issues. Now, I find the DUP is taking sensible positions on national issues that are completely lacking among other parties.
September 6, 2023
I thank you for your efforts and those that joined you.
As for the rest of parliament, this is PURE TREACHERY!
Bit by bit they not only take away our freedoms, they impose impossible sanctions on us to make us bend the knee and ‘do as we are told’. We are now in a dictatorship, for democracy is long dead.
With this Bill HMG can create new offences, at a whim, for anything. How long before we are herded into camps and treated like the slaves they want us to be?
September 6, 2023
Call it out for what it is …..its a ‘Net-Zero’ Bill and you’re an undemocractic party following woke green labour policies
September 6, 2023
Please show me where this energy bill was in the last manifesto ?
September 6, 2023
Better still, where did it say that we were leaving democracy behind to become a dictatorship?
September 6, 2023
Sir John this is disgraceful. The absence of detailed debate and appropriate consultation with constituents is an outrage. Iām certain there is going to be a reckoning over this especially when busy working people and families fully understand the draconian and sinister implications at play here. We are losing our country because parliament is obsessed with a desire to appear virtuous. There is no climate emergency. This headlong rush for more onshore wind and solar energy will still not solve our energy problems. All will require backup from gas, nuclear and coal. Instead of wasting billions on Carbon Capture we should be investing in RR SMRās immediately. Yet again weāve been let down by a Conservative government. Itās a disgrace.
September 6, 2023
Every MP who voted for this and previous Net Zero Bills should be ashamed of themselves. They don’t live in the real world. But we, the voters, can do nothing about it. We need an effective way to recall MPs so they can’t sit there for five years like nodding donkeys and have to take account of their voter’s opinions.
When people stop listening and learning, they start dying, and it seems most of our MPs are walking zombies!
September 6, 2023
“Because there were 6 votes there was no time for any debate”
How about dragging Westminster out of the 18th century then. In a modern parliament, that number of votes can take place in a matter of a few minutes, not the hour and a half it takes in Westminster.
September 6, 2023
What an utter mess politicians are making of our country. Only voters can put a stop to this but we all know they wonāt.
September 6, 2023
This Conservative government is far too “green”, and the provisions it put in regarding criminalization of householders when they are found to be non-compliant with some outlandish and arbitrary green rules, is a scandal.
The net Labour government will use those rules relentlessly and make us all poorer, it’s unconscionable to threaten law abiding citizens with jail for not insulating their home or refusal to install heat pump, especially when real criminals – shoplifting, burglars and illegal immigrants are having a laugh at the law.
September 6, 2023
So we are threatened with imprisonment if we install the āwrongā type of boiler. To even suggest such an Orwellian concept serves to besmirch the standing of Parliament.
September 6, 2023
They’re going to have to build a lot more prisons.
September 6, 2023
Will they be sending round uniformed men on bikes to force entry and arrest us?
Theyāve certainly imported enough idle hands I suppose.
September 6, 2023
And the government provides yet another juicy opportunity for scammers. We are already inundated with phone calls from fraudsters about home insulation, how long before they turn up on our doorsteps demanding access to check our energy ‘compliance’ under threat of criminal prosecution. People will be left vulnerable by this rubbish, but I doubt if the Globalist Uniparty cares.
September 6, 2023
+++
That is such an incredibly good point.
September 6, 2023
‘We had too little time to debate it as the united parties stuck with a timetable motion that allowed backbenchers around just 2 hours to discuss 426 pages of law and 146 amendments. Because there were 6 votes there was no time for any debate on Third reading which would have provided chance to review the Bill as amended.’
What an absolute sham our democracy has been reduced to. And then only 19 votes against.
In 2023 we are well and truly in 1984.
September 6, 2023
The MPs should refuse to vote on it until they have all had time to read, study and question it thoroughly. Otherwise there is permanent mechanism for bypassing debate. āI have the Government Totalitarian Bill here – 5,699 pages. You have five minutes to make your minds up on it – hurry up!ā
September 6, 2023
+1 BOF
They seem to be using George Orwell’s 1984 as a handbook for government. I’m reading it again so I have a warning of what comes next!
September 6, 2023
+1
September 6, 2023
Since all the net zero policies being implemented in the U.K. will result in an increase in carbon emissions it cannot about reducing them.
So all that is left (as per usual) is to follow the money.
Cui bono?
A list would be nice.
What a SCAM.
September 6, 2023
40% of Apparent Global Warming Since 1850 (which is not very significant anyway) is Due to Urban Heat Corruptions of thermometer locations & reading (not actual greenhouse gas earth warming, but just more concrete cities and roads & buildings that retain the heat better than countryside, reduced winds and buildings that are heated then heating the city outside) A Major Study Finds.
See the The Daily Sceptic.org.
The UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims that urban heat accounts for less than 10% of recorded global warming, but the scientists found that figure is nearer 40%. So heating since 1850 that might be due to man made CO2 (or very many other factors like sun activity, orbits, earth wobbleā¦ is perhaps about 0.6C. Totally Negligible in historical terms and on balance a net benefit it saves sig. heating energy and costs for a start. Each 1C warmer outside saves about 10% on building heating costs.
September 6, 2023
So from your own admission, via an article you have read,man has created concrete jungles which retain heat and warm land mass.Is that not something caused by man?
September 7, 2023
M, Donāt ask too much from LL, he might implode.
September 6, 2023
āIt makes no sense for the UK to tax and price and regulate the end of high CO 2 activities here if we simply import the high energy goods from somewhere else adding to world CO 2 totals. It makes no sense to dump your petrol car early to buy an electric car if you do not do a high mileage as the CO 2 generated by making the EV and destroying the petrol car will be greater than the savings in use.ā
I increasingly think, Sir John – as I suspect do you – that this is not meant to make sense.
September 6, 2023
Iāve just tried to read this Energy Bill and cannot understand most of it so how politicians can scrutinise it is beyond me. I expect most havenāt even tried to understand the implications of what is being legislated. Like sheep, they just follow what they have been told to vote through under the scam of the climate change religion and the race to net zero.
When I see the words āenforcement (199 times)ā, āload control (52 times)ā, āsanctions (137 times)ā, āoffenses (120 times)ā, ācompliance (62 times)ā and āpenalty (199 times)ā in this Bill it scares me.
So if you refuse a Smart Meter which can load control (aka turn off) your gas and electricity the ESOS enforcement authorities can forcibly enter your home or fine you. This ESOS sounds like something out of Russia or China.
What a draconian country we have become.
September 6, 2023
Christine
Yes draconian, totalitarian and punitive. Room 101 is going to become very crowded indeed.
September 6, 2023
Exactly and all for a bonkers evil cult/religion & yet only 19 votes against!
September 6, 2023
Only l9 sensible MPs that have the foresight to see the whole picture that is a worry
September 6, 2023
About a quarter of the population have savings of less than Ā£500.
One in seven have no savings
This government wants everyone to buy a new electric car (Ā£50000), and install a heat pump (Ā£20/25000 all in).
If not they will be fined Ā£15000 or go to jail.
Is it me, or am I living in some kind of alternative reality?
Shame on all the morons and virtue signallers who voted for this travesty.
September 6, 2023
It seems incredulous that just 19 MPs voted against this Bill.
I am astounded that so many of our so-called representatives in Parliament are swayed by the net-zero argument. Why are they so convinced that this country, which emits less than 1% of the global output of Carbon and CO2, should take the role as ‘World leaders’ in the total reduction when the likes of China the USA and India who together emit over 50% of the total Global emissions, do nothing or very little compared with our own hugely costly efforts? We are breaking our bank while the RoTW laughs.
Hello!! We are ‘Little Britain’ and no longer the world power we once were and you are crippling our country with a crazy idea that the world will follow our example.
The Rest of the world now must see us as naĆÆve and stupid and wonder how we ever build the greatest empire the world has ever seen.
If only those who voted for the Bill could ‘do the maths’!! I despair for our country and our offspring, now.
And why the exaggerated fuss about CO2? It represents a fraction of the gases forming the “Greenhouse Effect” without which, Earth would be literally, frozen to death. And the most influential gas in the “greenhouse” up there is – H2O vapour, representing over 90% of the total. Now who wants to cut our water?
Planet Mars does not have any water but a huge abundance of CO2 and it’s bb… cold. Go do the maths.
September 6, 2023
And this Energy Bill opens the way to a potentially limitless class of criminal offences for non-compliance, punishable by heavy fines and imprisonment?
I think we can all see where this is going…
Make the most of the roast beef while you can…
September 6, 2023
Dear Mr. Redwood,
In Germany, the public has forced the government to reconsider its heat pump strategy as demand for this technology has slumped and a fierce debate about government plans to decarbonise the heating sector has unnerved many citizens.
Here in the UK, the Mayor of London is forcing through his ULEZ plan and has sparked an action group called the Blade Runners who are dedicated to putting his cameras out of action. This is, of course, criminal activity. However, a former Leader of the Conservative Party, Sir Iain Duncan Smith (has condemned law breaking but has said he understands the frustrations of anti ULEZ protesters Ed)
People in the UK are beginning to see that they are being asked to make huge sacrifices to their standard of living because the technology to support the dash to Net Zero is not mature and too expensive. They also understand that the UK will make itself poorer in the process and it will not make a blind bit of difference to world CO2 levels. Experts in the field of ‘greenery’ are not trusted to be independent and politicians are viewed as habitual liars. They give short shrift to those who say Britain must set an example to other countries. They feel the pace of change is too fast and they are concerned.
Lawmakers committed to Net Zero have had a couple of warnings now and should have a care. If they continue to pursue their chosen course of action then they should not be surprised if more people and groups join the ‘counter-action’ against the headlong rush to Net Zero.
September 6, 2023
John, this Energy Bill is a travesty, and I have already commented several times on why the data and physics shows no climate emergency or that weather is worse now than in the past nor will be in the future, no evidence of a human fingerprint on its constant variation, and the evidence that there are no technologies or country sized systems that can replace the ones built over the last 200 years by intelligent and competent people that created prosperity, wealth and freedom. But alas we only have a venir of freedom and truth now. We know that journalists and news outlets no longer investigate or report anything sensibly, but rather are just propaganda mouth pieces to their masters. But now it has become apparent more than ever that you and your parliamentary colleagues are being circumnavigated by people who have no interest in doing what is right, honest, true, democratic or fair. Your statement that no time was allowed for debate or review of the complex consequences of this evil, stupid and destructive Bill proves that point. This Bill along with the Climate Change Act that preceded it is a travesty to democracy, freedom and truth and as you, yourself have said in your interview on Farage, it is likely that future Secretaries for state will introduce ever more draconian legal/regulatory instruments to criminalise citizens who don’t have the cash or the will to go along with the criminal, globalist, corporative madmen who run the show. I am not sure if I want to describe it as a mad-house or a circus or a combination of the two. God help us going forwards with an undemocratically appointed PM, implementing the UN’s Agenda 21 or WEF’s Great Reset “you’ll own nothing and damn well be happy about it” policy.
September 6, 2023
The more taxes you give them the worst they will be towards you.
September 6, 2023
By the way, the onshore wind farms thing needs some input…
Why do wind farms have to be made up of enormous, ugly steel turbines? Why not create an idyllic Quixotic landscape with pretty windmills, grinding out electricity, not corn?
You’d probably find a lot more people prepared to have them nearby.
Not that it will make a red cent of difference when the wind doesn’t blow, of course.
September 6, 2023
Am delighted you voted against this dreadful and dangerous Bill and I caught your speech too which I enjoyed. Our country and its people remain on the road to disaster.
I don’t wish to dilute the credit you deserve, but I’m sorry to have to say I cannot understand how you can remain loyal to your party and party in government when you opposed to such a long list of their policies and activities, as well as its omissions. Pretty well it is accepted as no longer being Conservative.
September 6, 2023
And for making measured comments suggesting that the outcomes of policy is considered you were probably deemed a denier.
Galileo had a more responsive audience.
September 6, 2023
The voice of reason has fled from the governing British elites. I’ve just read Matt Goodwin’s latest post covering his research of the public’s views on Net Zero and ULEZ. I commend it to you, Sir John, if you have not read it. On this issue the elites are hidiously detached from the public.
September 6, 2023
Hideously!
September 7, 2023
I am perfectly happy with a green approach to life and would be even happier if the whole world took green issues and global warming seriously. We simply have to stand back and listen to those in denial, claiming they know best. Arrogance pervades.
Of course it is also arrogant to ignore new evidence whether it be in support of global warming strategies or against them. But there again evidence should be checked and checked in terms of priority to act.
September 7, 2023
What about a carbon tax, so that we do not simply export CO2 production? There would then be an incentive to manufacturer in lower carbon juristrictions, maybe even in the UK. While a significant carbon tax would increase the cost of finished products, the monies so raised could be used to subsidize renewable energy.
September 7, 2023
I’ve noticed that another former energy minister did not vote for the bill: Kwarteng. Odd that these ministers didn’t support it. Or perhaps they know it should not have been tabled.
September 9, 2023
I am disappointed that a seemingly intelligent man as yourself feels the need to go along with the unproven CO2 narrative. There are enough qualified people out there asserting that CO2 is not a problem as it does not cause ‘significant global warming’ but is in fact a beneficial trace gas. The fact that you argue your case within the scope of this narrative makes your argument invalid as far as I am concerned. As for the downright draconian measures a so called conservative gov is imposing on it’s citizens, you should all be thoroughly ashamed. I have reached the point where I cannot wait for an insurrection as it’s all we have left and some natural justice to be metered out to all of those that sit in the house.
Reply I did not vote for the Climate Change Act. I need to make the case for change in policy to those with a strong belief in the need to curb CO 2.