Ace Business Desk – There is ongoing fallout from last week’s UK budget, announced by chancellor John Healey. The Guardian reports: “Healey has said he will veto new offshore wind projects if they will not lower bills, adding to concerns that the government is moving away from the pro-renewables agenda…The move appears to be a further shift away from Labour’s target of having clean power by 2030.” by Sammy Gecsoyler, The Guardian

It quotes Healey writing in the Times saying this is “not a retreat from clean power” [see Comment below]. The story is the frontpage splash for Saturday’s Times: “Ministers will veto new clean-energy projects if they add to Britain’s multibillion-pound wasted-wind bill and push up electricity costs for consumers…In a shift from Labour’s signature pledge to decarbonise all Britain’s power supplies by 2030, the chancellor said the government’s priority must be to cut bills.”

The Financial Times quotes a “government insider” saying: “The idea that it’s green power at all costs has passed…High energy costs have become one of the biggest things holding back the economy.” [High energy costs are predominantly due to the UK’s reliance on expensive gas.]

The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph reports Healey’s comments as “effectively kill[ing] off” the clean-power target.

The Daily Telegraph also reports on an energy department consultation on shifting windfarms onto a new type of contract as a “tax raid from John Healey”.

The Sunday Times says the National Wealth Fund’s chief investment officer “said the fund would continue to invest in sectors that it had already targeted in line with the government’s industrial strategy, such as clean energy”.

Bloomberg reports on a “cabinet split” over the Rosebank oilfield in the Atlantic, with Healey in favour and energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh opposed. The climate-sceptic Mail on Sunday reports that Fahnbulleh “was looking increasingly isolated in cabinet last night as Labour sources indicated the government was breaking with net-zero ideology in order to tackle the cost-of-living crisis”. It quotes a “Labour source” saying the decision on Rosebank “will be taken across government and just rubber-stamped by Miatta”.

The Sunday Times looks ahead to the government’s upcoming “10-year plan”, which it says is intended to be an “ambitious programme covering every stage of life in Britain”.

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