Elizabeth Truss, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Career driven, no nonsense Liz Truss has been seen as a potential political highflier since the election of the current government. She is the youngest woman to become a Cabinet member and has frequently been touted in the national press as “the next Margaret Thatcher” – something that would no doubt disappoint her lefty parents – her mother was a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – and former peers in the Oxford University Lib Dem party, of which she was president.
Coming into her post from the Department for Education where she was minister for childcare, Ms Truss is an avid supporter of STEM careers and vocal on the need for more women in industry. Getting her hands dirty with initiatives which make a real different in this space, Lizz Truss this year opened the Big Bang Fair, a STEM careers show which attracted over 75,000 young people from across the UK.
In representing her constituency of South West Norfolk, Truss has so far shown her hand in energy and environment matters by opposing the use of agricultural land to grow biomass crops and the growth of greenfield solar farms.
Prior to entering politics, Truss worked for Shell and Cable and Wirless.
Follow Liz Truss on Twitter: @trussliz
Amber Rudd, Minister for Climate Change
Ms Rudd moves to the Department for Energy and Climate Change from Treasury where she acted as Parliamentary Private Secretary to George Osborne, making her one of two new arrivals at DECC who have worked directly with the Chancellor – the other is Matt Hancock, below. The dual connection has caused some speculation, including from Utility Week’s Mat Beech, about a move by Osborne to consolidate his influence in DECC.
During her time as Osborne’s aide, Rudd also spent a deal of time campaigning on women’s issues and publicly proving that, as she put it, “Conservatives can be feminists too”. She launched an inquiry into unplanned pregnancies in the UK and, and as treasurer of the All-Parliamentary Group on Female Genital Mutilation has been one of the leading vices in removing the taboo that has often hindered progress on stamping out this practice.
Rudd won her seat in Hastings & Rye in 2010 and in the same year joined the DEFRA Select Committee supporting small fishing fleets in the UK.
At DECC, Rudd will now has the unenviable tasking of pushing forward the Green Deal and reform of the Energy Company Obligation.
Follow Amber Rudd on Twitter: @AmberRuddMP
Matthew Hancock, Minster for Business and Energy
The fourth energy minister under the incumbent government, Matt Hancock, like one of his predecessor’s John Hayes, comes to his post from a skills and education role.
Since 2012 Mr Hancock has acted as a bridge, some might say with limited effect, between the Department for Business Innovation and Skills and the Department for Education with the remit of aligning policies so that efforts to improve the standing of vocational education and the employability of young people by the former are not undermined by the latter – a tall order under the DofE’s Gove leadership.
At DECC, Hancock is now responsible for North Sea oil and gas and will be expected to achieve results for government’s plan to accelerate Britain’s exploitation of fracking opportunities. He is also responsible for nuclear policy.
In the past, Hancock has shown scepticism over the viability of wind power as a major contributor the UK’s energy needs – specifically onshore wind. He was among the most eager signatories to a letter supported by 101 MPs in 2012 which said “in these financially straitened times, we think it is unwise to make consumers pay, through taxpayer subsidy, for inefficient and intermittent energy production that typifies onshore wind turbines”.
He has also opposed onshore wind developments in his own constituency of West Suffolk.
Follow Matt Hancock on Twitter: @matthancockmp