First Tony Blair and now David Blunkett: Ex-home secretary becomes the latest Labour grandee to warn against Keir Starmer's Net Zero push
Lord David Blunkett has become the latest Labour grandee to warn against Sir Keir Starmer 's Net Zero push.
The former home secretary said a failure to reduce energy prices in Britain would see Labour's green policies become 'electorally toxic'.
The Labour peer also put pressure on the Government to not leave the UK totally reliant on electricity.
He pointed to recent blackouts in Spain and Portugal as a 'timely reminder of just how dependent we are on electricity supply'.
Lord Blunkett's intervention comes a week after Sir Tony Blair, the former Labour PM, criticised any strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term as 'doomed to fail'.
The ex-premier argued the current climate approach 'isn't working', with the debate having 'become irrational'.
He also cautioned that Brits would resent 'being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know that their impact on global emissions is minimal'.
Sir Tony's extraordinary intervention was followed by a trade union chief lashing out at Energy Secretary Ed Miliband for having 'no plan' to make Net Zero work.
Lord Blunkett's intervention comes a week after Sir Tony Blair, the former Labour PM, criticised any strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term as 'doomed to fail'
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham swiped that someone who 'believes in Britain' should be made Energy Secretary.
In an article for the Telegraph, Lord Blunkett said Sir Tony's intervention, last week's local election results, and the outages in Spain and Portugal had brought fresh scrutiny of Labour's energy policies.
As well as the commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050, Labour also wants to decarbonise the UK's electricity grid by 2030.
The big winners of last week's local elections were Reform UK, who gained more than 600 council seats and took control of 10 local authorities.
Nigel Farage's party has since vowed to end climate change initiatives in town halls, and to block renewable energy projects in those council areas they now control.
Lord Blunkett branded Reform's wish to abandon the drive for Net Zero as 'insane', but he admitted the 'politics of this is genuinely tricky'.
'So far, the moves that have been made (and yes, we as a country have made substantial moves towards net zero) have been at a heavy cost to both industry and domestic users,' he wrote.
'Getting energy prices down quickly is a political imperative if the necessary changes aren't to become electorally toxic.
'Decoupling the price of electricity from the global gas market is an essential move, as is completely changing the terms of reference of the regulator, Ofgem.
'At the moment, we're in a Catch-22 situation, which sees measures taken to reduce the cost of clean energy undermined by price increases, reflecting the world price of carbon.
'In any case, alternatives to total reliance on electricity are surely a no-brainer.
'We need to look creatively at what can be done – both in terms of the use of technology to clean up existing sources of energy, but also to ensure that we can switch to alternatives or make them available for the comfort, well-being and choice of the consumer.
'It is absolutely true that we can accelerate growth by investment in renewables and away from dependence on carbon fuels.
'But it's also true that the price of energy for our industrial base is a major drag on growth and on our competitiveness. We have to square that circle.'
Lord Blunkett agreed there was a need for targets in reducing the country's carbon emissions.
But he also said there needed to be a 'flexibility to ensure that the drive for a cleaner, more pleasant and safer planet is not undermined by the political victories of those who would reverse all that has been achieved so far'.
He added: 'In a democracy, you have to persuade not command people to contribute in their own lives to bringing about change.
'You must ensure that what you're offering is a promise not a punishment, and, above all, you have to listen to them. That is the lesson of the past few weeks.'
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