Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson's flagship energy bill faces significant change or being scrapped altogether, it was claimed yesterday.

Newly-appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Jacob Rees-Mogg reportedly told officials earlier this week that the bill will be effectively put on hold.

It was April when Mr Johnson's Government unveiled its much-anticipated energy security strategy.

It gave the North Sea oil and gas industry a major boost with confirmation the sector was to play a major role in Britain's plans for greater energy independence.

The strategy set out how the country would accelerate deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen, whilst supporting the production of domestic oil and gas in the nearer term.

Plans included a fresh oil and gas licensing round to be launched in the autumn for North Sea projects.

The energy security strategy was also expected to lead to tens of thousands of new jobs across Britain.

Committee stage

The energy bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords. Having undergone two readings, it is now at the committee stage.

However, Energy Voice says reports suggest Downing Street will now "park" the bill, instead prioritising more immediate action to lower consumer bills and reform the UK's electricity market.

Yet abandoning some or all of the bill means other important decarbonisation targets and reforms may fall by the wayside.

Daniel Newport, head of net zero for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and formerly of BEIS, noted that he couldn't see "any feasible way" the government could hit its legally-binding carbon budgets in 2030s without the bill going ahead.

Doug Parr, policy director for Greenpeace UK, said that, while the bill was not perfect, ministers should not "throw away the baby with the bath water.

He added: "By now, most people agree that our broken energy market needs fixing, and this bill is a good opportunity to do so. It already includes measures to drive up heat pump installations, which is key to protecting households from spiralling gas prices and cutting climate-wrecking emissions.

"And ministers could use the bill to bring in new standards to improve our energy-wasting homes and bring down bills whilst removing the absurd barriers blocking solar and wind - the cheapest energy sources we have."


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