Exclusive:Britain has to 'use own resources' to bring down energy bills, Climate Change Minister says
Britain has to make the most of its “own natural resources” - including wind and solar in Yorkshire - if energy prices are going to come down, the Climate Change Minister has said.
Minister Katie White admitted to The Yorkshire Post’s Great Northern Conference that energy prices are too high, but said the only way to bring these down was through investment.
Her comments at Doncaster Racecourse yesterday come after the Conservatives and Reform have said they would rip up the Climate Change Act and boost spending on oil and gas.
Ms White said: “There is a limit to how much fossil fuel there is, and you are then hooked on a commodity-based economy where you are constantly having to buy the gas or the oil from the producers.”
The minister said that this would mean Britain buying oil and gas from Russia and Norway.
Instead, Ms White said “we can use our own resources, the sun, the wind and nuclear power”.
“We have to make choices,” she said, “and we are going to invest,”
A lot of that investment in solar and wind has been focused around Yorkshire, due to the grid connections.
Solar farms have been dotting up across the county, with a huge controversial Whitestone project being planned near Doncaster.
One of the largest wind farms in the country is being proposed above Hebden Bridge in Calderdale.
Ms White praised Rachel Reeves’ action on energy bills in the Budget, which she said would bring them down.
“I want those costs to come down for people and for businesses,” the Climate Change Minister added.
“That's why in the Budget, we looked at reducing those costs and taking some of those into general taxation so that we could reduce some of the cost of living crisis that people are facing.
“From our department, six million people will receive the warm homes discount of £150 this winter and we’ll be introducing new warm homes plans. We acknowledge that it's a challenge and we will be taking more action.”
The Leeds North West MP was made Climate Change Minister in September and has had a whirlwind few months travelling to New York and Brazil for international summits.
She is one of the 2024 intake of MPs who has been promoted rapidly in the Government, and was thrust into key roles at the UN and at Cop30.
Ms White told the Great Northern Conference that she approached Cop30 in Belem with trepidation amid “geopolitics that have evolved”.
However, the minister told delegates that she returned from South America “genuinely energised”.
“We got a consensus, we moved forward and we got a deal.
“For those in the world who said we don’t want to work together - they didn’t win.
“The businesses I met were hungry and ready to deliver.
“There is a lot to do in this transition, economy, society, up and down the country, every single sector will be affected.
“That can be terrifying, but it can also be incredibly exhilarating.”