UK risks blackout in latest energy crisis, warns Rees-Mogg

SIR Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned that the UK’s latest energy crisis will impact homes and businesses across the country.

Speaking on GB News Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “We are facing an energy crisis once again. We had one in the 1970s, we had one in 2022 and it’s a reminder of the centrality of energy to everything that goes on economically in this country.

“Everything you eat, everything you drink, everything you wear, is dependent on energy, and therefore on the price of oil…

“You’d think from listening to [Rachel Reeves] that we actually had some influence in all of this. But unfortunately, as we’ve sat on the sidelines, we don’t.

“But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t fundamentally important to what is going to happen and the government needs to respond. And regrettably, our whole energy policy now for years has been wrong, and this government is making it worse.

“So instead of maximising what we can get out of the North Sea, they don’t want any more licenses. Instead of re-instituting fracking, they’re not interested. Instead of having a task force that is looking at energy supply, which we used to have, that’s gone.

“There is no proper analysis or understanding of why energy is essential and how to ensure that we get it so the lights don’t go out.

“Because when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, we need gas. And when our gas is coming from Qatar and it can’t get through the Strait of Hormuz, on a dry, still day, overcast, we risk not getting any energy and having blackouts.

“This is a real risk. We don’t have storage, as our storage always used to be the North Sea. And if we had a sensible policy, it would now be the fracking resources.

“And let me go back to the fundamental point: in everything, in absolutely everything, energy is central. So if the energy price goes up, that can lead to an inflationary shock, which could then push up interest rates, which then makes everybody worse off, makes the cost of government borrowing more, makes mortgages more, means people have less money in their pockets.

“And high energy prices have been making us cold and poor now for 26 years. In 2000 UK GDP was 90% of the US on a per capita basis; it is now 60%. And what is the one major factor that has changed?

“In 2000, a kilowatt of electricity was broadly the same price in the UK as in the US. It is now, for industrial electricity per kilowatt hour, four times as much. So our industry has gone, the heating of our homes is more, people’s disposable income on other things is lower.

“And this risk now is that that gets worse because we’re not prepared. Now, Donald Trump could be right. It could all go very smoothly, and then the oil price will indeed collapse.

“But it’s so careless not to be prepared for the worst. What was it Nanny always used to say? Expect the worst, hope for the best and accept the result.

“We seem just to hope for the best and forget about all the rest of it.”