Liz Truss has set out her energy plans and they might not seem the most likely to meet our net zero targets.
Speaking to the TalkTV hustings in Exeter, Foreign Secretary Ms Truss revealed her plans to help Britons with soaring bills, as she plans to end the ban on fracking and immediately scrap green levies.
She said: “My response on energy, yes it is partly fracking and we should allow fracking where local communities support it.
You say things will take a long time, but they will take less time under my government because I will pass primary legislation to get things done.
“I will also make sure we exploit all of the gas in the North Sea, and we make sure we use that to bolster our domestic energy supply.
“I’ll be moving forward faster with nuclear, including major stations, but also small modular reactors which are produced in Derby and offer a major opportunity for our country as well.”
Solar panels
But what about renewable energy?
On the subject of that she said: ‘our fields should be filled of our fantastic produce – whether it’s the great livestock, the great arable farms. It shouldn’t be full of solar panels, and I will change the rules. I will change the rules to make sure to make sure we’re using our high value agricultural land for farming.”
In response, Solar Energy UK chief executive Chris Hewett told ReNEWS.biz: “The solar industry is deeply concerned about Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak’s recent comments on solar farms.
“They offer cheap, clean power and time and again have been proven to be popular with the public.
“Yet the two candidates for Prime Minister are falling over themselves to say how much they dislike solar farms. How did we end up in this alternate universe?
Reactions
Here are some confused reactions:
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Related: Liz Truss to ‘unleash’ British farming by removing ‘red tape’ but it hasn’t gone that well with some