Yorkshire Baroness calls for 'urgent action for rural areas' in energy strategy

The former head of the House of Commons environment committee has called for “urgent action for rural areas” in the energy strategy this week, as Ministers are finalising the plans to wean the UK off Russian supplies.

Baroness Anne McIntosh of Pickering has said that she would like to see measures which will “seek to help those who have been especially badly hit in rural areas” by energy price rises and other cost of living increases such as fuel, when the plan is unveiled on Thursday.

Her intervention comes as research from Labour suggests rural households are paying hundreds of pounds more every year to heat their homes, compared to those living in towns and cities.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Baroness McIntosh, was the Conservative MP for the Vale of York and then Thirsk and Malton between 1997 and 2015, and chaired the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee from 2010 until she left the Commons.

File photo dated 06/10/20 of Teesside Wind Farm near the mouth of the River Tees off the North Yorkshire coast.File photo dated 06/10/20 of Teesside Wind Farm near the mouth of the River Tees off the North Yorkshire coast.
File photo dated 06/10/20 of Teesside Wind Farm near the mouth of the River Tees off the North Yorkshire coast.

She told The Yorkshire Post yesterday that she would like to see “urgent action for rural areas” from Boris Johnson and his Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

“Many rural dwellers are off grid and have been paying premium prices for LPG, oil and solid fuel for months as they are not protected by any price cap,” she added.

Baroness McIntosh also urged Ministers to not ban wood burners as a method of heating, given the number of off-grid homes. She explained: “Given the recent cold spell, rural parts of the North have been hit particularly hard.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“There was talk of a ban on wood burners which again would be harsh on rural dwellers, many of whom use the fallen branches from gales to fuel their homes to make them less dependent on oil, lpg and solid fuel.

“So any such ban should be reconsidered.”

According to a Labour analysis released today, rural households paid on average £1,583 in 2020 for their house fuels, compared to £1,198 in urban areas.

Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Jim McMahon MP, said: “The Conservatives are allowing taxpayers to bear the brunt of spiralling costs with their buy now, pay later energy scheme – which will do nothing to tackle the bill hikes people in rural communities have been facing every year.

Boris Johnson has seemingly struggled to get more money from the Treasury as he eyes the prospect of increased nuclear power in order to reduce reliance on Vladimir Putin’s fuel.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The energy strategy was promised in response to demands to divest from Russian fuel over its invasion of Ukraine and to address a growing cost-of-living crisis.

Yesterday, Cabinet member Jacob Rees-Mogg said oil firms to be able to keep their profits amid calls for a windfall tax “so they get every last drop out of the North Sea”.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK needs a proper energy strategy from the Government rather than going “cap in hand” to dictators.

Asked by broadcasters whether his shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds was right to agree over the weekend that the country needed to prepare for energy rationing, Sir Keir said: “We don’t need energy rationing. We do need an energy strategy. And going from one dictator in Russia for your oil and gas, cap in hand to another dictator in Saudi Arabia is not an energy strategy.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We need a strategy that is fast-forwarding on renewables and on nuclear, retrofitting so that we can actually keep our houses and our homes warmer.

“That is the strategy, the security strategy, that we need for this country and we don’t have it from this Government.”

A Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesperson said: “We will set out our energy security strategy later this week to supercharge our renewable energy and nuclear capacity, while supporting our North Sea oil and gas industry.

“We cannot speculate on the contents of the strategy.”