The boss of one of the UK’s biggest unions has branded the current system for subsidising renewable energy a “poll tax” on poor customers.
Tim Roache, general secretary of the GMB union, took a pot shot at the government’s bill payer-funded subsidies for low carbon projects when introducing a motion on the climate crisis at the TUC Congress yesterday (10 September).
Referring to the controversial flat rate local government tax introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s administration in 1990, he said: “We support a progressive tax system that funds the transition to net zero, ending the poll tax that the poorest pay through their energy bills.”
But Roache, whose union includes many energy workers amongst its 600,000-plus membership, backed investment in green gases like hydrogen, which he said would help to decarbonise the gas system while preserving the existing gas infrastructure.
And a greater rollout of home energy efficiency retrofits could both reduce bills and emissions, while creating skilled jobs, he said, adding: “Sustainable energy jobs are the solution to many of the problems we face in the 21st century.”
But Roache said that few of the manufacturing jobs being created in the emerging renewables industry were going to UK workers.
“The bulk of the wind jackets our members will see from their living room windows will be manufactured in Indonesia for an Italian contractor and transferred 7,000 miles on diesel burning ships back to the Fife coast where local people will pay for them through their electricity bills.
“This strategy is negligent at best, vindictive and cruel at its worst.”
TUC delegates backed the motion which mandates a 30-minute stoppage in solidarity with the global school student strike due to take place on Friday, 20 September.