Budget 'a huge missed opportunity'

Responding to the Chancellor's Budget today, Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research, said:

"The Chancellor's first budget was a huge missed opportunity to deliver the radical action needed to significantly slash energy bills and cut the UK's dependence on fossil fuels. Instead it just tinkered around the edges while kicking the can down the road on the deeper reforms needed.

"A £100 rebate for households in Council Tax bands A to D, is welcome and vital, but it remains a sticking plaster approach to the UK's exposure to volatile international gas markets. Much greater investment is needed to rapidly reduce our reliance on expensive gas by insulating the nation's heat-leaking homes and rolling out heat pumps at scale - funded by higher taxes on the super-rich gas and oil firms, rather than the £1 billion cut to the Warm Homes Plan made in the Budget

"Removing standing charges from gas bills will offer some relief, but it risks penalising those on lower incomes and older and disabled people, who might need more energy because of medical needs or because their homes are poorly insulated.

"Bolder action is needed to bring bills down, including removing all existing policy costs from electricity and breaking the link between electricity prices and the cost of gas. Promises for radical reform of energy markets are welcome but they must be turned into action after years of delay.

"Allowing data centres to burn gas to generate their own energy while waiting for a grid connection is yet another threat to the UK's legally-binding climate targets, following approvals for aviation expansion at Gatwick and elsewhere. The government must get a grip on carbon emissions: ruling out Heathrow expansion and new oil and gas developments, and standing-up to the tech giants who put profits above people and the planet, while trampling over communities around the world."

ENDS