UK’s energy security plan aims to boost job creation and reduce reliance on hostile states like Russia
Rishi Sunak and Grant Shapps will lead an intensive series of engagements this week in a determined effort to strengthen the UK’s energy independence.
The prime minister and energy security secretary are meeting with industry leaders from oil, gas and renewable sectors aimed at driving forward measures to safeguard national energy security and diminish reliance on potentially hostile states.
Drawing upon the UK’s expertise in the energy industry, Mr Sunak will outline plans that emphasise job creation and economic expansion while ensuring leaders such as Vladimir Putin can never again exploit energy as a weapon to blackmail other nations.
Central to the government’s energy security strategy is a significant emphasis on empowering Britain through domestic resources.
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Mr Sunak is expected to unveil investment plans that prioritise powering up the UK from within. This approach seeks to reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels by bolstering the domestic oil and gas industry, investing in cutting-edge clean technologies, and isolating Russia’s regime from global energy markets.
The government’s goal is to ensure the UK seizes opportunities to fortify its energy infrastructure in the present, and to secure long-term energy independence, resilience, and prosperity for the future.
Mr Shapps said: “Energy security is national security. Since Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the government has driven Putin from our energy market, paid around half of a typical family’s energy bill and grown our economy by driving forward major energy projects.
“This week we will go even further. Forging ahead with critical measures to power up Britain from Britain – including supporting our invaluable oil and gas industry, making the most of our home-grown energy sources and backing British innovation in renewables.”
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How Russia affects our energy bills
He added: “And across government, we will champion Britain’s businesses to deliver on the prime minister’s priority of growing the economy – helping them to create new jobs and even whole new industries across the UK.”
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In line with these efforts, the week’s agenda will also highlight support for British innovation in emerging industries, particularly in areas such as carbon capture and storage. It will also showcase initiatives aimed at accelerating the adoption of cutting-edge renewable technologies across the country.
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The government’s strategic push for energy security builds upon the UK’s years of critical support for the North Sea oil and gas sector and its world-leading achievements in renewable energy.
The UK has so far cut emissions by 48% between 1990 and 2021, while growing the economy by 65% over the same period.
Some 41.5% of the nation’s electricity comes from renewable sources in 2022 – up from 6.7% in 2010 – as the UK leads the world in the response to Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and driving Russia out of its energy market for good.
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Politics
Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions ‘all day long’ as farmers slam ‘disrespectful’ PM
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% applied to other land and property.
The announcement has sparked anger among farmers who argue this will mean higher food prices, lower food production and having to sell off land to pay for the tax.
Sir Keir defended the budget as he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales, where farmers have been holding a tractor protest outside.
Sir Keir admitted: “We’ve taken some extremely tough decisions on tax.”
He said: “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. I will defend the tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy.
“And I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy, and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales. Finally, turning the page on austerity once and for all.”
He also said the budget allocation for Wales was a “record figure” – some £21bn for next year – an extra £1.7bn through the Barnett Formula, as he hailed a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.
And he confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going live in 2025.
‘PM should have addressed the protesters’
Among the hundreds of farmers demonstrating was Gareth Wyn Jones, who told Sky News it was “disrespectful” that the prime minister did not mention farmers in his speech.
He said “so many people have come here to air their frustrations. He (Starmer) had an opportunity to address the crowd. Even if he was booed he should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people”.
He said farmers planned to deliver Sir Keir a letter which begins with “‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Farmers’ tractor protest outside the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.
“They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”
On Friday, Sir Keir addressed farmers’ concerns, saying: “I know some farmers are anxious about the inheritance tax rules that we brought in two weeks ago.
“What I would say about that is, once you add the £1m for the farmland to the £1m that is exempt for your spouse, for most couples with a farm wanting to hand on to their children, it’s £3m before anybody pays a penny in inheritance tax.”
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Welsh farmer Gareth Wyn Jones
Ministers said the move will not affect small farms and is aimed at targeting wealthy landowners who buy up farmland to avoid paying inheritance tax.
But analysis this week said a typical family farm would have to put 159% of annual profits into paying the new inheritance tax every year for a decade and could have to sell 20% of their land.
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The Country and Land Business Association (CLA), which represents owners of rural land, property and businesses in England and Wales, found a typical 200-acre farm owned by one person with an expected profit of £27,300 would face a £435,000 inheritance tax bill.
The plan says families can spread the inheritance tax payments over 10 years, but the CLA found this would require an average farm to allocate 159% of its profits each year for a decade.
To pay that, successors could be forced to sell 20% of their land, the analysis found.
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