Tory plan to scrap green energy measures called ‘contradictory nonsense’ by environment groups – UK politics live | Politics
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- October 6, 2025
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‘Contradictory nonsense’ – Friends of Earth and other environment groups criticise Tory energy plans
Environmental groups have condemned the Tory proposal announced by Claire Coutinho to scrap two green energy measures. (See 11.27am.)
Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said:
The Conservatives’ promise of cheaper energy while opposing wind and solar is contradictory nonsense. Renewable energy is far cheaper than building more fossil fuel plants … They say they want to protect the environment, but increasing fossil fuel reliance only makes things worse.
Angharad Hopkinson, a political campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said:
The shadow energy secretary is right to push the government to fulfil its promise to cut energy bills, but she is dead wrong to suggest that shifting away from clean power is the way to deliver it. Britain’s electricity prices are overwhelmingly set by expensive gas, not renewable energy.
And David Walsh, head of public affairs at WWF, said:
The green economy grew by 10% last year, responding to the clear and consistent signals from governments over the last 17 years thanks to the Climate Change Act. In a volatile world, investing in clean British energy and insulating homes is the way to cut bills and boost the economy to support jobs, families and the environment. Stepping back from climate action would be a devastating blow for nature and a reckless gamble families can’t afford.
Key events
James Cleverly says Israeli minister’s decision to host Tommy Robinson ‘foolish’
James Cleverly has condemned the plans by an Israeli minister to host the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
As PA Media reports, Israel’s diaspora and combating antisemitism minister Amichai Chikli has described Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as a “courageous leader on the front line against radical Islam”. Chikli also said he was “proud to host” Robinson in Israel later this month, in mid-October.
Asked about the invitation, Cleverly, a former foreign secretary, told a fringe meeting organised by Politico:
I have no doubt that a number of other people in the Israeli government are as uncomfortable with that as I am. I think it’s a foolish move on behalf of the individual that did that.
Tommy Robinson and others of his ilk are now wrapping themselves up in a pro-Jewish, pro-Israeli posture, because basically it’s an opportunity to do what they really want to do, which is to be anti-Muslim. So I think it’s an error.
CBI and BCC welcome Tory plan for 100% business rates relief for high street firms
Business groups have welcomed the Conservative party’s promise to scrap business rates for high street shops and pubs – but urged the party to go further.
Responding to the announcement, Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:
The BCC has long argued for fundamental reform of business rates to create a system that is fair and affordable. While reviving our high streets is important, any changes to the rates system must go further and benefit businesses of all sizes.
And Rain Newton-Smith, CBI chief executive, said:
While plans to abolish business rates for hospitality, leisure and retail businesses could give high streets a boost, it’s more fundamental reform of a broken business rates system that is needed if we’re to incentivise the investment our country needs. Going further by shifting from a slab to a slice-based system would make a huge difference to increasing investment for businesses of all sizes and sectors, while also simplifying the system and removing the need for additional reliefs altogether.
The CBI is calling for a “sliced-based” rates system because the current system means a small increase in the value of a property can mean a huge increase in the rates bill. In a report last year it explained:
The existing business rates system is an ‘all or nothing’ or ‘slab’ tax – meaning the relevant multiplier applies to all of the rateable value of a building once a rateable value threshold is reached. This creates a series of cliff edges in the system which discourage businesses from expanding to more or larger premises.
The Conservative party is proposing 100% business rates relief on the retail, leisure and hospitality sector. It says 250,000 firms will benefit.
During the Tory leadership last year James Cleverly, the former home secretary, sounded distinctly sceptical about the case for leaving the European convention on human rights.
But today, speaking to Dan Bloom at a Politico fringe meeting, said that he was “very comfortable” with the plan to leave announced by Kemi Badenoch, the party leader.
Cleverly, who returned to the shadow cabinet as shadow housing secretary after a spell on the backbenches, said:
What I said [during the leadership contest] was leaving the ECHR and saying nothing else is just a sound bite. I stand by that. Leaving the ECHR is not a silver bullet. I stand by that, and that’s now been accepted pretty much across the board.
But also I was the home secretary who was frustrated because I couldn’t deport the people that I needed to deport. And we have absolutely got to secure our borders, and we have got to be seen to be securing our borders.
And it’s become increasingly clear — we tried it, we were frustrated, Labour tried it, they’ve been frustrated.
Cleverly said the report from Lord Wolfson, the shadow attorney general, concluded that leaving was “necessary but not sufficient” for the UK to gain full control of its borders. He went on:
That is now Conservative party policy, and I’m very comfortable with that.
‘Contradictory nonsense’ – Friends of Earth and other environment groups criticise Tory energy plans
Environmental groups have condemned the Tory proposal announced by Claire Coutinho to scrap two green energy measures. (See 11.27am.)
Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said:
The Conservatives’ promise of cheaper energy while opposing wind and solar is contradictory nonsense. Renewable energy is far cheaper than building more fossil fuel plants … They say they want to protect the environment, but increasing fossil fuel reliance only makes things worse.
Angharad Hopkinson, a political campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said:
The shadow energy secretary is right to push the government to fulfil its promise to cut energy bills, but she is dead wrong to suggest that shifting away from clean power is the way to deliver it. Britain’s electricity prices are overwhelmingly set by expensive gas, not renewable energy.
And David Walsh, head of public affairs at WWF, said:
The green economy grew by 10% last year, responding to the clear and consistent signals from governments over the last 17 years thanks to the Climate Change Act. In a volatile world, investing in clean British energy and insulating homes is the way to cut bills and boost the economy to support jobs, families and the environment. Stepping back from climate action would be a devastating blow for nature and a reckless gamble families can’t afford.
Labour has ruined the “lives and dreams” of the farming community with its taxes, Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary told the Tory conference.
Rather than speaking on the conference stage, Atkins held a mini-rally in front of a JCB tractor in the conference hall.
Atkins said the Tories would reverse what they call the “family farm tax”.
As PA Media reports, from April 2026 farmers who previously did not have to pay inheritance tax on their agricultural property face a new effective rate of 20%. The first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property, such as farmland, will not be taxed. There is a higher threshold of £3m for couples passing on their farms.
Shadow minister Katie Lam suggests settled status EU nationals should be included in proposed Tory benefit ban for foreigners
Katie Lam, a shadow Home Office minister, has said that she thinks the welfare cuts announced by the party (see 8.09am and 12.36pm) do not go far enough. Although Mel Stride has said EU nationals with settled status would not be covered by the proposed rule saying non-Britons should no longer be eligible for benefits, Lam told a fringe meeting organised by Politico that her personal view was that they should be. “My view is that all state support should only be for citizens,” she said.
She also suggested that a Tory government should reopen talks with the EU to address this. This would be necessary because settled status was part of the Brexit treaty. As Politico reports, she said:
The whole point of having a status like EU SS [Settled Status] or indefinite leave to remain is that that is still a live conversation … If somebody is entitled to everything that comes with being a British citizen, then they should make the choice to become a British citizen.
A source said that Lam’s view was not party policy, and they weren’t looking to start “some big fight with the EU” over this,.
Lam is seen as a rising star in the party. Peter Walker explains why in this profile.
Tories say most of money from plans to cut spending by £47bn will be used for deficit reduction
Here are the main points from the briefing by Tory officials at the conference about the fiscal plans announced today.
Overall saving and spending plans
The Tories say they would cut spending by £47bn a year by the end of the next parliament (ie, by 2034-35).
They would use some of that money (£9bn) for tax cuts:
-£4bn cutting business rates for high street shops and pubs
-£2.8bn for the first jobs bonus
-£2.2bn on tax cuts already announced – reversing the imposition of VAT on school fees (£1.7bn), and reversing the extension of inheritance tax to cover fams (about £500m)
The rest of the money – around £38bn a year – would be used for deficit reduction
Where the savings would come from
The Tories released figures in their overnight press release. (See 7.59am.) At the briefing, they went into slightly more detail, and offered these figures. These are savings from 2029-30.
-£23bn saved by welfare cuts
-£8bn by cuts to civil service
-£6.9bn by cuts to the aid budget
-£3.9bn by cuts to social housing
-£3.5bn by cuts to spending on asylum
-£1.6bn by cuts to net zero
Spending cuts – details
Aid
-The Tories see the reduction of aid spending to 0.1% of national income as permanent.
Civil service
-The Tories expect cuts across all departments. They think getting the civil service down to the size it was before Brexit is reasonable.
Welfare cuts
-Around £7bn of the £23bn cuts will come from people who are not British being denied access to benefits. People with indefinite leave to remain or limited leave to remain will not qualify.
-The Tories also plan to tighten access to health-related benefits. Where people do receive benefits like Pip (the personal independence payment), they want them to be based on the extra costs people incur, they want payments to be related more to medical diagnosis, and they want all assessements to be done face to face
-EU nationals with settled status will still qualify for benefits.
Social housing
-The Tories expect to save money here as a consequence of their plans to cut immigration.
Tax cuts – detail
Business rates
Councils would be fully compensated by central government for the loss of revenue, Tories say.
First jobs bonus
See 12.06pm for more detail on this
Other points
-The Tories indicated that they are keeping the triple lock, described as Conservative policy, and will commit to that at the next election.
-The officials did not say anything critical of the Office for Budget Responsibility, saying it is Labour criticising the OBR now, not them.
How Tories says their jobs bonus plan will work
Conservative officials have given a briefing at the conference that about the main proposals announced today for spending cuts (see 7.59am), and the tax cuts the party would implement with some of the savings (see 10.25am and 11.27am).
This is what they said about the first jobs bonus.
It will cost £2.8bn.
Everyone can claim it, and people will start getting the “payments” (what they would have paid in national insurance) when they have a job that means they would liable for national insurance. The money will go into a nominated savings account, like an ISA, or a stocks and shares accounts.
People will be able to use the discount to accumulate up to £5,000 from the national insurance exemption and, if they give up work for a period before they have hit the £5,000 limit, the money saved accumulates interest.
People can draw down the money at any time to spend on a home. After five years people will be free to take the money to spend on something else if they are not buying a home. The Tories argue that, for people not buying property, this will encourage savings.
Tories unveil plan to cut energy bills by £165 per year on average by cutting carbon tax and renewables obligation subsidy
Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, used her speech to the Tory conference to propose what she called a “cheap energy plan” that she said would save £165 a yaer from the average household energy bill. They would fund this by getting rid of the renewables obligation subsidy and the carbon tax.
In a new release, the Conservative party says:
The carbon tax currently makes up around a third of wholesale electricity prices, artificially inflating the price of electricity and forcing up everyone’s energy bills in the process.
The carbon tax also increases the price paid to other non-gas electricity sources like wind and solar, pushing up profits of wind and solar generators at the expense of consumers.
This is all added to people’s bills and that leaves everyone worse off. Especially when compounded with the fact that Labour’s decision to align with the EU carbon tax has increased the UK’s carbon tax by 70% since January 2025.
Our plan to axe the carbon tax, which does nothing to help improve our environment or reduce emissions, will save the average household £75 on their electricity bills.
The Conservatives will also scrap Ed Miliband’s rip off renewable subsidies, the renewable obligation certificate scheme (ROC).
Launched by Labour in 2002, and doubled by Ed Miliband in 2008, the subsidies mean renewable energy producers receive significantly above market payments for their electricity – up to three times more than the market price of electricity.
Consumers are then forced to pay for these extortionate prices through their energy bills.
That is why the next Conservative government will use primary legislation to repeal this subsidy scheme, which will reduce the average household’s electricity bills by £90.
Together, axing the carbon tax and scrapping Ed Miliband’s old wind subsidies will cut the average household electricity bill – currently just over £850 – by £165, and also help to reduce emissions by maximising consumer choice. Decarbonisation will progress by innovation driving electrification (for instance in transport), but those products need to be cheaper to run to encourage people to adopt them – so it makes no sense to keep the price of electricity artificially high.
Andrew Mitchell was international development secretary when David Cameron was raising aid spending, not cutting it. At a fringe meeting at the Tory conference this morning, he did not explicitly criticise the aid cuts proposed by his party. (See 8.49am.) But he made the case for aid spending.
Peter Walker has posted this about the fringe on Bluesky.
Mitchell’s opening pitch is… mixed. He doesn’t criticise the plan to cut aid, but calls for a ‘Marshall Plan’ to help African nations create jobs and skills (which would cost money), and laments the fact the UK is no longer an aid superpower.
And Peter has posted this quote from Mitchell.
And this is how Stride concluded his speech. By the time he got to the end, he was shouting.
Where Labour choose debt, we choose discipline.
Where they choose welfare, we choose work.
Where they choose stagnation, we choose aspiration.
All they have to offer is pessimism, higher taxes, fewer jobs, lower growth and a mountain of debt for the next generation.
What we stand for is something far bigger and far greater than that – Conservative values, opportunity, aspiration, optimism.
We are the party of hope. We are the party of the future. We can and we will.
Stride says Tories would abolish business rates for shops and pubs on high streets
Stride says the high streets are being “hollowed out”, partly because of Labour’s taxes. He goes on:
We need to get business rates down. In fact, we need to go further, much, much further.
So today, I can announce that as a direct result of getting public spending under control, a future Conservative government will completely abolish business rates for shops and pubs on our high streets. End of.
Stride says Tories would introduce £5,000 ‘first job bonus’ tax cut for young people, for housing or savings
Stride sets out the plans to cut spending announced overnight. (See 7.59am.)
And he says the Tories will use the savings to fund “tax cuts that are laser focused on aspiring young people”. He goes on:
So we will introduce something called the first job bonus.
When someone takes their first job, the first £5,000 pounds they pay in national insurance won’t go to the taxman.
It will go towards a deposit on their first home, or it will go towards savings for their later life.
For a working couple, that means £10,000 pounds, helping them buy a home, build a family, save for the future.
That is the Conservative dream, a dream that built my life.
Stride claims Reform UK are ‘party of more spending and more debt’
Stride turns to Reform UK, and claims they are “just as bad” as Labour.
Reform’s manifesto promised tens of billions in unfunded commitments. They want to scrap the two-child benefit cap, spending billions more on welfare, and they want you to pay for it.
We say that if you want to fund a large family, then that’s great, but you should look to yourself to pay, not the state.
Reform want to get back to the days of nationalisation and state control. They are marching to the left. Be in no doubt. They are the party of more spending and more debt.
(Reform claim they want to cut welfare spending. The Tories say they won’t, because Nigel Farage said Reform would get rid of the two-child benefit cap that the Tories want to keep. But subsequently Farage claimed his party was committed to other welfare cuts – a pledge that was important in persuading Danny Kruger, a Tory worried about high welfare spending, to defect.)
Stride describes going into business after university, and recalls buying his first home.
He says his story was an example of the “Conservative vision of opportunity, aspiration and achievement, and that is what we are going to bring back”.
And he attacks Labour for its record – raising taxes in the budget last year by £40bn.
We left inflation bang on target under Labour, it’s doubled and growth has tanked.
You remember how Labour claimed they were pro-business? Well, just last week, the Institute of Directors said the business confidence was at its lowest level ever.
The result? Thousands of wealth creators have left the country. Labour have no clue about how to build the economy of the future.
Stride claims Tory party will never give up supporting business
At the Tory conference Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, is delivering his speech.
He starts by saying he has recently been on a trip to Silicon Valley, where you could “almost reach out and touch the future”.
He says it did not make him depressed, returning to future. Instead it raised his spirits, because it showed him what could be achieved in the UK.
He says the UK needs wealth creation. It should be a country “that once again understands that wealth is created not by government, striking unions and a bloated public sector, but by entrepreneurs, businesses and the hard-working millions”.
He goes on:
To business today, I say loud and clear – Labour may have given up on you, but this Conservative party never, ever will.
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