UK MANUFACTURING WOES CAN BE SOLVED BY ABANDONING NET ZERO, SAYS REES-MOGG

SIR Jacob Rees-Mogg has said the eruption of Mount Etna highlights the absurdity of the UK’s net zero agenda.

Speaking on GB News, he said: “Mount Etna has not only been busy terrifying tourists, it’s been flooding the atmosphere with carbon dioxide emissions. Indeed, if you take volcanic emissions as a whole for the year, about 440 million tons comes out. That amounts to the entirety of the UK’s annual CO2 emissions.

“Why do I mention this? Well, while we’re busy deindustrialising, cutting North Sea jobs and devastating our economy with net zero policies, nature continues to take its course, well beyond the control even of His Majesty’s government.

“This government is facing pressure of volcanic proportions to save British industry from the net zero agenda. Whilst time and again we’ve been promised a green jobs revolution from this Labour government a new report has revealed not only that some 58,000 North Sea oil and gas jobs will disappear, equivalent of 200 lost every week for the next five years, but the offshore wind sector may create about half of those lost.

“That is, of course, with the billions in subsidies that you will have to pay for.

“Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry finds itself in a financial straitjacket, paying a headline tax rate of 78%, 78% on an industry that employs 200,000 people.

“If you’re wondering why wages are low and prices are high, look no further than absurd policies like this. But it doesn’t end here.

“Official figures show that the UK pays amongst the highest industrial energy prices in the world, higher than Germany, France, Spain and industrial electricity four times more than the US.

“The chief lobby group Make UK has warned that half of manufacturers now believe these high energy prices represent the biggest challenge for the future, and that we are set to enter an era of rapid deindustrialisation.

“We all know both of these problems are solved by one thing: abandon net zero. It’s making consumer bills higher. We currently pay higher rates for gas because power stations are turned on intermittently, forcing suppliers to pay higher costs when gas is used to generate electricity.

“It’s making taxpayers £280 a year, poorer on average through green subsidies, totalling £25 billion pounds a year. It’s devastating British industry, including steel and other manufacturers across the country, because of how expensive industrial energy prices are.

“It’s stopping new businesses expanding, and it’s costing tens of thousands of jobs to those working in North Sea oil and gas affiliated industry.

“The good news is on one singular point: Red Ed Miliband is expected to scrap his heat pump targets following budget cuts, but there’s much more work to be done.”