Robert Halfon MP

We will never save the planet on the backs of the poorest

• 29 October 2013, 12:00am

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  We will never save the planet on the backs of the poorest

  

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Alexander Larman

What happened to the Rishi Sunak I knew at school?

Yesterday she led Ed Miliband’s demands for a new carbon tax – even though independent research says it would hit the poorest Brits the hardest. For the record: I am not against low carbon electricity. No one is against green technology if it saves money. But it has to be affordable. Slapping new stealth taxes on the poorest pensioners and families is not ‘saving the planet’, and Labour need to wake up to that. Green must be ethical, too.

Inevitably, Labour’s tactic yesterday was to nitpick at the detail: rather than answering the substantive point. So here is how the £125 cost is calculated:

1. DECC estimates a 2030 decarbonisation target would mean your energy bills rising by at least £113, due to the impact of higher carbon pricing and high ‘low carbon’ support costs.
2. Extensive studies done by Poyry for the Climate Change Committee in June suggested that the true figure could be closer to £125.Their independent report concluded that an extra £7.5 billion in support costs a year would be needed to achieve a 2030 decarbonisation target. That is where the Conservative estimate of £125 comes from.

Labour dispute this. But they have no plausible estimate of how much your bills will rise as a result of their vote yesterday.

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to what the Engineering Employers’ Federation have to say. They represent British manufacturing firms, and have concluded:

‘A fixed target would make the UK and its households and businesses a hostage to fortune… Should current assumptions about the development of carbon capture technology, the level of investment in nuclear power, the cost of offshore wind or the future price of gas prove wrong, the UK could end up committed to an unrealistic and extremely costly target.’

Wise words. We should listen to them. We will never save the planet on the backs of the poorest.

Robert Halfon is MP for Harlow. Follow him on Twitter at @halfon4harlowMP