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7 min ago 2 min read
Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced energy funding cuts to finance an extra £15bn ($19.8bn) in defence spending.
Specific details have yet to be confirmed but it is thought carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects may be in the firing line. The UK confirmed £9.4bn ($12.45bn) funding for CCS development in last year’s spending review.
Roy Jordan, Director at Caladen Consulting, a specialist energy consultancy, said, “Scrapping energy projects to help fund defence spending risks creating a false divide between national and energy security. In a more volatile world, the UK needs credible military capability, industrial resilience, stronger supply chains and investment in technologies that will shape future security. But energy infrastructure is also part of national security.”
He added clean power, storage and industrial energy efficiency “are not secondary issues, they are central to the UK’s resilience.”
“We should be very careful about treating energy infrastructure as something that can be delayed without consequence,” he said.
The timing of the Prime Minister’s announcement creates more policy uncertainty, amid broader economic pressures from the ongoing Middle East crisis.
The next UK Prime Minister must tackle high industrial energy costs, rising employment costs and continued pressure on investment, according to manufacturing industry body Make UK.
Andy Burnham, former Mayor of Greater Manchester and widely expected to succeed Starmer as Labour party leader and Prime Minister, has set out plans for a ‘No 10 North’ in which more power would be devolved from London to Manchester, providing local leaders with more control over key sectors such as energy.
Olivia Powis, CEO of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, said, “The direction set out by Andy Burnham on reindustrialisation and regional growth is a welcome one, but delivery must be the priority.”
