Energy bosses meet with Grant Shapps amid debate over future of net zero

Published

2 years ago

August 2, 2023

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UK energy chiefs will gather in Downing Street today to discuss net zero as a debate rages in both main parties about the future of green policies.

Industry leaders from EDF, SSE, Shell and BP will meet Grant Shapps, the energy security secretary, just days after the government announced it would grant more than 100 new oil and gas licences off the coast of Scotland – a move critics claim would drive “a wrecking ball through the UK’s climate commitments”.

Mr Sunak has defended the new licences, arguing that using domestic oil and gas saved “two, three, four times the amount of carbon emissions” than “shipping it from halfway around the world”.

However, he was criticised by those in his own party, including former energy minister Chris Skidmore, who said it was “the wrong decision at precisely the wrong time, when the rest of the world is experiencing record heatwaves”.

Mr Shapps is expected to highlight the government’s North Sea announcement as well as well as the steps it has taken to bear down on protests groups such as Just Stop Oil – whom the Tories are keen to portray as closely aligned to the Labour Party.

He is expected to say: “We need to send the message loud and clear to the likes of Putin that we will never again be held to ransom with energy supply. The companies I am meeting in Downing Street today will be at the heart of that.

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“Energy industry leaders can see that this government will back homegrown, secure energy – whether that’s renewables, our revival in nuclear or our support for our vital oil and gas industry in the North Sea.”

According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Shell UK plans to invest £20-25bn in the UK energy system over the next 10 years, while BP intends to invest up to £18bn in the UK to the end of 2030.

SSE plc have also announced plans to invest £18bn up to 2027 in low carbon infrastructure and National Grid plc will be investing over £16bn in the five-year period to 2026. EDF has outlined plans to invest £13bn to 2025.

The meeting with Mr Shapps comes just weeks after the Uxbridge by-election sparked a debate within both parties over how to sell green policies to the public, after Labour’s narrow defeat was blamed on Sadiq Khan’s ultra low emission zone’s (ULEZ) planned expansion to outer London.

The result has prompted MPs on the right of the Conservative Party to appeal to the PM to rethink the government’s net zero commitments, with calls for delays to a number of targets – including putting back the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.

Another pressure bearing on Mr Sunak is over whether the government should keep its oil and windfall tax after BP last week reported £2bn in net profits.

The £2bn figure was in fact half the $5bn (£4bn) profit the firm achieved in the preceding three months in the first quarter of 2023.

The Liberal Democrats said that nevertheless, the “monster profits” would be a “nasty shock to families who couldn’t afford to heat their homes this year”.

The party’s Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said: “The government shouldn’t be hoodwinked to remove the windfall tax by this profit drop. Let’s be frank, these are still huge.

“No family should go cold next winter because the government backed down on taxing the likes of BP.

“It is time to put the needs of struggling families and pensioners over the wallets of global oil firms.”

The government has said it will end the windfall tax on bumper oil and gas profits in 2028 if prices drop.

The windfall tax – 75% of North Sea oil and gas production profits – will continue for the next five years but if prices fall to historically normal levels for six months, the tax rate for oil and gas companies will return to 40%.

Companies do not pay the full 75% or 40% rate as they can offset tax liabilities on investment they make.

The windfall tax, which is also known as the energy profits levy, has raised around £2.8bn to date and is expected to raise almost £26bn by March 2028, according to the government.

Asked about BP’s profits during a visit to Teesside’s transmission system gas terminal on Tuesday, Mr Shapps said: “I think what people want to know is that they [BP] are being properly taxed, and we’ve been taxing them 75% of their profits through this windfall tax, and that we’ve used that money to pay about £1,500 per household to cover people’s energy bills this last winter.

“It may not have felt that way, but [bills] would have been £1,500 on average higher if we hadn’t taxed the energy companies,” he added.

Politics

Top TRUMP whales hold $174M in tokens ahead of dinner with US president

Published

2 hours ago

May 12, 2025

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Top TRUMP whales hold 4M in tokens ahead of dinner with US president

The list of the top holders of US President Donald Trump’s memecoin has been finalized ahead of background checks to apply for a dinner and “VIP tour” with the president on May 22.

In a May 12 X post, the TRUMP memecoin project said it would stop considering additional purchases for a dinner with the president, adding that the top tokenholders had been notified to apply for background checks if they wanted to attend.

According to data provided on the project’s leaderboard, the top 220 wallets held more than 13.7 million tokens as of May 12, worth roughly $174 million at the time of publication.

White House, Donald Trump, Corruption, Memecoin — *Top 10 TRUMP memecoin holders as of May 12. Source: TRUMP memecoin project*

It’s unclear who, if any, of the wallet holders will choose to apply for and attend the dinner with Trump, or the “exclusive reception” expected to be in the White House for the top 25 holders, on May 22. A May 7 Bloomberg report suggested that the majority of tokenholders were based outside of the United States, leading to potential security concerns and conflicts of interest.

Many US lawmakers and figures in the crypto industry criticized the president for launching the memecoin just days before taking office on Jan. 20. In the wake of his dinner announcement on April 23, the calls for congressional oversight and allegations of corruption have intensified, with one senator calling for Trump’s impeachment and other representatives refusing to consider crypto-related legislation until their concerns were addressed.

Companies also apparently seeking influence over Trump’s policies have invested in the memecoin. In April, Freight Technologies said it would invest $20 million in the token, suggesting that it could affect the president’s trade war between the US and Mexico, where the firm conducts some of its business. As of May 12, the company had not announced whether it qualified to send a representative to the dinner.

Not Trump’s first appeal to crypto users

During his 2024 campaign, Trump hosted a dinner with supporters who purchased his “mugshot” non-fungible tokens, which featured a picture of the then-presidential candidate at his surrender to authorities on charges he attempted to overturn the 2020 election.

Many of the “mugshot” attendees publicly shared their identities on social media ahead of and during the event, but at the time of publication, no one appeared to be claiming they would apply for the memecoin dinner. Wallets with the usernames “Sun” and “elon” have led to speculation that Tron founder Justin Sun and Tesla CEO Elon Musk — both Trump supporters who have financial interests tied to Trump’s presidency — could be among the attendees.

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Politics

NYC Mayor doubles down on crypto push ahead of city summit

Published

4 hours ago

May 12, 2025

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NYC Mayor doubles down on crypto push ahead of city summit

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced partnerships between the city and financial firms as part of his crypto plans.

In a May 12 press conference at Gracie Mansion, the the city’s official mayoral residence, Adams said June Ou, founder of financial services company Figure, and Richie Hecker, CEO of private equity firm Traction and Scale, would be assisting the city in its crypto efforts. He spoke of Ou and Hecker acting as advisers for New York City’s next steps in “economic development and opportunities to serve the public using digital assets.”

“We are focused on the long-term values of these technologies for our city and its people, not chasing memes or trends,” said Adams, adding:

“If you’re in the crypto, blockchain, Web3 or the fintech space, New York City is open for business.”

Cryptocurrencies, Politics, New York, Donald Trump — *Eric Adams addressing reporters on May 12. Source: Yedda Araujo/Cointelegraph*

Adams made digital assets a large part of his policy platform after assuming office in January 2022, when he announced plans to accept his first three paychecks in Bitcoin (BTC). In a 2023 financial disclosure, the mayor reported holding between $5,000 and $54,999.99 worth of Bitcoin, but suggested it was worth more in a December 2024 press conference.

Trump DOJ dismissed the corruption case against Adams

Adams had been facing corruption charges over alleged illegal donations from the Turkish government, but Justice Department officials appointed by US President Donald Trump stepped in and directed local authorities to intervene. The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reopened, in April, and Adams traveled to the White House on May 9 to reportedly thank Trump for his “words of support” during his 2024 campaign.

It’s unclear whether Adams’ May 12 announcement was related to his meeting with the president, who has also pushed significant policies related to digital assets since taking office. Cointelegraph reached out to the mayor’s office for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Adams announced in April that the city would be hosting its own crypto summit on May 20.

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Politics

Minister does not rule out ‘supermax’ jails for most dangerous offenders following alleged Rudakubana attack on prison officer

Published

6 hours ago

May 12, 2025

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Minister does not rule out 'supermax' jails for most dangerous offenders following alleged Rudakubana attack on prison officer

“Supermax” jails could be built to house the most dangerous offenders following a spate of alleged attacks on staff, the prisons minister has said.

James Timpson told the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that “we shouldn’t rule anything out” when asked if the most dangerous criminals should be placed in top security prisons.

It comes after Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana allegedly threw boiling water from a kettle at an officer at HMP Belmarsh on Thursday. Police are now investigating.

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Before that, three prison officers were also allegedly attacked by 28-year-old Hashem Abedi – the brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi – with hot cooking oil and “improvised knives”, potentially made from a baking tray.

Speaking from HMP Preston for a special programme of the Politics Hub, Mr Timpson told Sophy Ridge: “We inherited a complete mess in the prison system.

“Violence is up, assaults on staff is up. But for me, we shouldn’t rule anything out.”

He added: “What we need to do is to speak to our staff. They’re the experts at dealing with these offenders day in, day out. “

Mr Timpson – who was the chief executive of Timpson Group before he was appointed prisons minister last year – said the violence in prisons was “too high”.

He continued: “The number of people when you have prisons are so full, and the people in there are not going to education or into purposeful activity.

“You get more violence and that is totally unacceptable. Our staff turn up to work to help turn people.

“They want to turn people’s lives around. They didn’t turn up to work to get assaulted. It’s totally unacceptable.”

Reflecting on the crisis facing the UK prison system ahead of the government’s sentencing review, Mr Timpson said a major problem was the high rate of reoffending, saying “80% of offending is reoffending”.

He said people were leaving places like HMP Preston “addicted to drugs, nowhere to live, mental health problems – and that’s why they keep coming back”.

Asked whether every prison had a drugs issue, he replied: “100%.”

“If we want to keep the public safe, we need to do a lot more of the work in here and in the community. But also we need to build more prisons.”

Put to him that making more use of community sentences – thought to be one of the recommendations in the government’s sentencing review – might be considered a “cushy option” compared to a custodial sentence, Mr Timpson said: “There are some people in this prison tonight who would prefer to be in prison than do a community sentence – but that’s not everybody.

“Community sentences need to be tough punishments outside of prison, not just to help them address their offending behaviour, but also the victims need to see punishments being done too and for me, technology has a big part to play in the future.”