Welsh MPs call on UK Government to mobilise ‘on a wartime footing’ to shift from fossil fuels to renewables

Three Plaid Cymru MPs are among those to have signed a cross-party letter calling on the UK Government to “mobilise on a wartime footing” to reduce the UK’s dependence on fossil fuels and back renewables instead.

The letter signed by three Plaid Cymru MPs, alongside Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, as well as MPs from Labour and the SNP, pointed to research that now suggested that due to rising fuel costs backing net zero would be “cost-saving overall”.

The letter which has appeared in the Financial Times this morning says that “those who have claimed that net zero is too expensive will need a new reason to delay the transition to a cheaper, greener, more sustainable future”.

“Decarbonising the economy will actually cost less than maintaining our dirty, outdated energy system,” the letter says.

“It’s now time to mobilise on a wartime footing to eliminate our dependence on imported oil and gas and enable a clean break with Russia, Saudi Arabia and other fossil fuel regimes.

“The energy secretary says that fracking is not the answer to high energy prices and there’s no time to expand North Sea oil and gas production — even if further fossil fuel production wasn’t completely at odds with pledges made at COP26 to keep 1.5C alive.

“Investing in renewable energy, heat pumps and public transportation will help us achieve net zero, but we also need honesty from ministers about how to reduce energy in the long term, including by insulating Britain’s leaky homes and discouraging gas-guzzling SUV lifestyles.”

The letter adds that  “John Maynard Keynes said ‘when the facts change, I change my mind’.”

“Perhaps now we can expect Conservative MPs to back the cross-party climate and ecological emergency bill, currently before parliament, which would deliver a joined-up climate-nature strategy to reduce emissions in line with 1.5C and restore the damage done to nature,” it says.

The letter was signed by Liz Saville Roberts, Ben Lake, and Hywel Williams of Plaid Cymru.

Other signatories included John McNally of the SNP, and Nadia Whittome, Richard Burgon, Claire Hanna and Barry Gardiner of the Labour party. Daisy Cooper and Wera Hobhouse of the Liberal Democrats are also among the signatories.