Environment minister Lord Goldsmith has signalled that Liz Truss’ commitment to scrap green levies on energy bills will not mean cuts in home insulation investment if she wins the Conservative leadership contest.
At a hustings event organised on Wednesday morning (17 August) by the Conservative Environment Network, the Tory peer represented foreign secretary Liz Truss while secretary of state for environment George Eustice stood in for her leadership rival Rishi Sunak.
Truss’ repeated objections to solar farms on agricultural land and plans to “strip out” green levies from energy bills have prompted concerns that the front runner to become prime minister would water down the government’s drive to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.
However, according to Lord Goldsmith, a Truss-led government would shift the costs of energy efficiency programmes currently levied on energy bills onto the public purse: “Liz has been clear that a big part of the response to the cost-of-living crisis and climate change longer term is insulation: dealing with the leakages that plague our housing stock. That has to be paid for whether though green levies or something else.
“She has said that if we are going to move these levies, that will need to be absorbed through general taxation. It’s not a question of whether we will continue to fund insulation. The reality is we are going to have to ramp (it) up dramatically and it is going to have to be paid for. There is a national interest in seeing the leakiest homes being plugged and made more efficient. That is very much priced in.”
Switching the financing of green levies from billpayers to taxation is widely supported across the energy industry.
Goldsmith also played down fears sparked by Truss’ headline commitment to stop solar farms on agricultural land.
Pointing to how animals can be grazed on land also used for solar panels, he said: “There is an issue is about the use of productive farmland for generation of solar power. That concern isn’t inconsistent with an appetite for expanding the use of solar, but it means we have to be intelligent about how we do it.
“I don’t detect a push back on solar in any meaningful sense: solar is a big part of the equation and will remain so going forward.”
Responding to concerns that Truss’ supporters include climate action sceptics, such as former Brexit minister Lord Frost, the former London mayoral candidate pointed to the strong commitment by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, who is tipped to become chancellor if she becomes prime minister, to the net zero agenda.
Lord Goldsmith also highlighted the “very sound” stance on climate issues taken by Treasury chief secretary Simon Clarke, who has been linked to Kwarteng’s current role.
“The key people who have been tipped for high office are people who can be relied upon.
“These are two key people who can be completely trusted and I can’t say the same about Rishi’s camp.
“If you look at the Truss camp in the round, I am confident that we will not just continue along the path but we will improve,” he said, adding that Truss had seen the diplomatic value of the UK’s strong position on climate change issues during her tenure as foreign secretary.
Lord Goldsmith claimed Sunak by contrast had never attended a meeting of the Cabinet climate committee, which had been set up by prime minister Boris Johnson to spearhead cross-Whitehall action on the issue.
“It’s hard to imagine a government led by Rishi Sunak building on these achievements, which is a major source of concern.”
Meanwhile, Sunak supporter Eustice said that stricter requirements should be introduced for developers to include sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) when building new homes.
“SUDS have been talked about for a long time. There is all this pressure from developers and it keeps getting put off. We can’t keep putting this off, we’ve just got to get better at better at SUDS and rainwater capture systems.
“We’ve got to require this (SUDS) through the planning system and not keep expecting the water industry to keep picking up all of these burdens.”