Party split as Rishi Sunak pressured to lift Cameron-era prohibition on new turbines but MPs urge him to stay committed to offshore
The Government must keep the onshore wind ban or Britain’s food security would be at risk, two dozen Conservative MPs have warned.
Rishi Sunak is under pressure from rebels to remove the Cameron-era prohibition on new turbines to tackle the energy crisis amid a growing party split on the issue.
Backbenchers including former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have signed an amendment laid out by Simon Clarke, Ms Truss’s former levelling up secretary, that demands an end to the ban.
But 24 Tory MPs and two peers have now written to Mr Sunak urging him to stand firm, arguing offshore wind is more efficient and that it is too dangerous to change direction.
“A change of policy would undoubtedly result in high grade farm land being permanently affected at a time when we are acutely aware of the importance of food security,” their letter reads.
“The environmental costs of turbine construction and fitting means that the ‘payback period’, the time before they become environmentally beneficial, is frequently underestimated and invariably unstated by their advocates.
“In practice, the majority of people who don’t want wind turbines to destroy their locality would be powerless to stop them.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/keep-onshore-wind-ban…/
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