Thursday, May 07, 2026
The battle over energy bills
The paper quotes Ami McCarthy, the head of politics at Greenpeace UK, who says: “With people’s bills and prices soaring from yet another fossil fuel crisis, these local elections have a global context – driven by the Iran war. Getting the UK out of the fossil fuel doom loop and on to renewables would secure a stable and affordable supply of energy. Voters face a choice between parties that want to keep us hooked on expensive, imported oil and gas, and those that offer a way out of this cycle of insecurity.”
The stakes are high with Reform taking an anti-climate stance, vowing to encourage fracking, impose punitive taxes on renewable energy generation, and block solar and windfarms, while the Conservatives have also embraced more drilling in the North Sea and played down the climate crisis, without explicitly denying it:
Yet the world’s leading energy economist and the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said new oil and gasfields would do little to improve the UK’s energy security or ease high prices.
Instead, opting to boost renewable energy generation offers a better way out of the crisis, as solar and wind energy are cheaper than oil, more secure, and are not subject to stranglehold by hostile forces, argues Mike Childs, the head of science, policy and research at Friends of the Earth. “Most people in Britain back strong climate action. When the same solutions will bring down bills, restore nature, boost the economy and make our local areas nicer places to live, voters deserve candidates who will act in their interests – not on behalf of polluters or the super-rich.”
Energy is not the only issue. “The need for cheaper bills, better quality housing, access to green space and more frequent bus services are among the top concerns voters care about,” said Childs, after listening exercises carried out by Friends of the Earth groups around the UK.
Water and air pollution were also big concerns, said Ed Matthew, the UK director for the E3G thinktank. “Local people want the pollution blighting their lives to end.”
We need to make the case to voters about the dangers of climate change and the need to bring in policiies to deal with it. The results today, will show how effective that argument is.
