We Need An Energy Revolution To Avoid Winter Blackouts

'Becoming energy independent creates jobs and lowers prices'

- Tim Newark

News that household N bills could rise as high as £3,615 a year has put the energy crisis centre stage and both Tory candidates to become prime minister need to spell out exactly what they intend to do. The £400 government handout will not be enough.

Across Germany, city centres are going dark as lights are turned off on public monuments and with a 15 per cent enforced cut in energy use, Europeans face a bleak winter. If the UK is to avoid blackouts and rocketing bills, it needs to unleash an energy revolution that includes vastly expanded fuel storage as well as making the most of our gas, oil and coal.

Despite calling tax cuts "immoral", Rishi Sunak - playing catch-up has now joined Liz Truss in pledging significant tax cuts to help reduce the cost of living crisis. Promising a five per cent cut in VAT on energy bills this autumn, Sunak has a long way to go to match Truss, who wants to remove the green levies that makeup to 25 per cent of electricity bills. The exchancellor's headlining four per cent cut in income tax is also predicated on getting inflation under control first, which means this is a distant never-never pledge, whereas his rival wants impactful tax cuts now to ease burdens on hard-working families and stimulate economic growth.