The government’s infrastructure tsar has quit following disagreement with Theresa May over the thrust of her policy on Brexit.
Lord Adonis, who has chaired the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) since its establishment in 2015, quit the post last weekend to campaign against the way the prime minister is handling the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
The former secretary of state for transport in Gordon Brown’s government, said in his resignation letter that he wanted greater freedom to criticise the government over its plans to quit the EU single market and customs union.
Lord Adonis resigned a week before the deadline for responses to the draft National Infrastructure Assessment, which he was overseeing as NIC chair.
The document, which identifies national infrastructure priorities, said the NIC is examining “unnecessary barriers” to the deployment of onshore wind projects, highlighting how they do not benefit from subsidies like their offshore counterparts.
Lord Adonis called for ministers to reverse the block on onshore wind farms in Wales and Scotland when speaking at a fringe meeting at last year’s Labour conference.
The commission has also forecast that demand for energy will fall faster than the government predicts.
According to the NIC’s modelling, UK energy demand will fall by between 8 per cent and 12 per cent by 2035. By comparison, the government projects energy demand will increase by between 2 per cent and 13 per cent by 2035.