Robert Jenrick has blasted net zero as a “complete disaster” in a furious attack. The Shadow Justice Secretary warned that the eco drive has “impoverished” people, with the poorest “hardest hit” by high energy prices.
He called for a series of measures to row back on the policy, including for the UK to “maximise” North Sea drilling for oil and gas The former Tory leadership contender made the comments after being asked at a Bruges Group think tank event about the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which is aimed at supporting low-carbon electricity generation.
Mr Jenrick said: “I think net zero has been a complete disaster. It’s been unilateral economic disarmament.
“It has impoverished people, there’s nothing progressive about this. It’s the poorest in society who are hardest hit by the high energy bills we have.
“And it’s decimating what little remains of our industrial base, the car industry, the steel industry, the chemicals industry, and that’s leaving us incredibly exposed as a country.
“Heavy industry 20 years ago was about 13% of GDP, today it’s about 7%, so our already small industrial base is declining at a rapid pace.
“Then we’re left as a 90-95% service-based economy just at a time when AI is going to completely shake the kaleidoscope.
“We’re going to see millions of middle-class jobs in the back offices of banks, accountancy firms, law firms, you name it, lost.
“Already in the last 12 months, the number of graduate-level entry jobs has fallen by 38%, partly because of Rachel Reeves’s taxes and the general economic climate, but also because of AI.
“Those good, middle-class, respectable jobs are just going. So we’ve got to have a sensible energy policy that means we can have industry and we can compete.
“It cannot be that we have energy prices that are four times that of the US, 30% higher than Germany, it just doesn’t work.”
He added: “What I would propose is yes, look at those subsidies and get rid of some of them. I think we should obviously maximise the North Sea as Kemi has said recently.
“I think we should build new gas-fired power stations and be honest that gas is here to stay for the foreseeable future, go for new nuclear.
“Do everything we can for energy abundance. Cheap and reliable energy should be the foundation of our policy.”
It comes after Kemi Badenoch pledged that a Tory government would make North Sea oil and gas the “cornerstone” of the economy.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the remarks made clear that the Conservatives had “learnt nothing” from their electoral defeat and warned the “failed energy policy” would “hurt the pockets of working people”.
