Miatta Fahnbulleh told Tom Swarbrick that getting the energy transition right meant a ‘pragmatic approach’
Andy Burnham’s newly appointed energy secretary has rowed back on her previous calls for Britain to implement net-zero within 10 years.
Speaking to Tom Swarbrick, Miatta Fahnbulleh said that while she was “passionate” about getting the energy transition right, she knows that “energy is right at the heart of the pressure that people are feeling in terms of the cost of living”.
She then stated that “working to get those bills down is my number one task”.
Her announcements come on the day when Mr Burnham’s government announced that VAT would be taken off of energy bills from October 1.
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On the announcement, the energy secretary said: “We are really clear we wanted to make sure that on day one we were providing people with just a bit of breathing space. This is what this intervention’s about.
“It adds to the £150 that we had taken off energy bills back in April. I’m really clear there is a lot more that we need to do, and my number one task is making sure that we’re working across the suite to drive down bills for good.”
On the question of drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea, Ms Fahnbulleh said the government is “pragmatic”.
The issue of drilling has potential to be a thorn in the side of Mr Burnham’s relationship with Donald Trump – who has repeated called for the North Sea to be explored.
Ms Fahnbulleh said: “We are already drilling in the North Sea, and we’ve been really clear and very pragmatic about Brexit, the oil and gas will be part of our energy mix for the foreseeable future.
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“But the really important point is the difficulty that we have is the oil and gas is sold on the global fossil fuel markets. So we have no control over those costs. And the reason why households are struggling at the moment is because we are incredibly exposed to global fossil fuel prices.
“And that’s why we are really committed to making sure that we create homegrown energy, clean energy, that ultimately means that we have far more energy security, and that will drive down the cost.”
She later added: “But the key problem we are trying to solve is our exposure to global fossil fuel markets. The reason why households are struggling at the moment – Ukraine, and now Iran. And ultimately the answer to that is about homegrown energy.”
