VAT to be removed from electricity bills/reshuffle: comment

"With two energy crises in a matter of years, the new energy secretary takes the helm as gas prices are up again with knock-on impacts for household and industrial bills. More British renewables are gradually loosening the grip of gas on setting electricity prices and VAT cuts could help households to switch to electric heat pumps, protecting UK homes from becoming ever more exposed to the whims of Putin and Trump when turning on their gas boiler.

"Around 90% of oil and gas has already been extracted from the North Sea and output is set to continue to fall irrespective of new drilling. So if energy security is a priority, more net zero emissions technologies like solar, wind, EVs and heat pumps will be needed, getting the UK off its dependence on burning oil and gas, the price of which are set on international markets. More measures to cut the cost of electricity could help speed up this transition.

"With man-made climate change estimated to have caused at least a thousand extra deaths during recent heatwaves in the UK, getting air to air heat pumps that also provide air conditioning into vulnerable people's homes, schools and hospitals could well be a bigger priority. Unless we get to net zero emissions and bring balance back to our climate, the mercury will continue to break new records, putting ever more lives at risk."