Reports of cuts to Boiler Upgrade Scheme to fund defence spending: comment

"Conflict drove the last gas crisis in the UK, and with prices close to another three year-high, war in the Middle East is doing the same thing again. Our heavy reliance on gas to heat homes left us one of the worst hit countries in Europe. Deploying heat pumps is critical for energy security and therefore a matter of national security. There aren’t any alternatives.

"The UK will need ever more gas imports from the likes of Trump as the North Sea continues its inevitable decline unless it makes the switch to heat pumps. Raiding long term policy introduces sudden, severe uncertainty that could mean setting back the growing heat pump industry just as it needs stability to scale. This would be the opposite of getting off the fossil fuel rollercoaster that ministers have talked about."