Political

Once again, Osborne is the obstacle to green action

Today’s Times reports how:

The Chancellor has infuriated No. 10 and Cabinet colleagues by refusing to endorse a key component in the policy to boost renewable energy.

In an extraordinary move last week George Osborne was rebuked by David Cameron’s aides for failing to come on board for a key green policy.

At a meeting on Monday the prime minister’s most senior official, Jeremy Heywood, gave a dressing down to an Osborne adviser over the Chancellor’s failure to rubber stamp the new price that power companies will pay for renewable energy such as solar, wave and wind power.

Osborne has form on this, for it was he who went missing during the vigorous government debates over how much power the Green Investment Bank would have, stalling progress by skipping key meetings.

As in that case, this isn’t a simple case of green Liberal Democrats versus non-green Conservatives, for there are those in Conservative ranks pushing for stronger green action too. In the case of the Green Investment Bank, that combination was enough to overcome George Osborne’s intransigence. We’ll see what happens this time round…

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