Prime Minister's speech at Labour Conference: comment

"The news yesterday that diesel prices have reached an all-high time high [1]provided a painful reminder of how the government’s efforts to provide the British public with some breathing room remain at the mercy of international energy markets over which we have no control – with any savings consumers might see from the scrapping of VAT on energy bills likely to be wiped out when the energy price cap rises again in January, as we continue to shoulder the impact of the war in Iran which has sent gas prices soaring.

"It’s no surprise then that the Prime Minister signalled that reducing Britain’s dependence on fossil fuels sits at the heart of his plan to rewire Britain, with promises of greater ambition on decoupling electricity from gas prices and a speedier upgrade of the energy grid.
 
"Meanwhile, after a scorching summer which saw temperature records shattered across the UK, [2] it’s perhaps surprising that there was less emphasis on the growing impacts of climate change on the UK. With Ministerial decisions on whether to approve the Rosebank oil field and water down the UK's main mechanism for incentivising the sale of electric vehicles – the single most significant policy for cutting British emissions – expected in the next few weeks, these will provide a key litmus test of the government’s ambition in tackling the root cause of climate change."