Green power bills finally come due for the UK, and Tony Blair reemerges

Tony Blair is back to explain how Britain should rescue itself, bringing along a new report from his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change that rebrands the country’s energy ambitions yet again.

Once upon a recent time, the dream was called ‘Clean Power 2030’. Now it has been reboxed and reissued as Cheaper Power 2030. Sounds like someone stumbled out of their green stupor long enough to take a good look at the bill and gulp.

Blair’s institute now says that the clean mission was “right for its time” but that “circumstances have changed.” No kidding. What did you expect when you build an energy plan out of little more than optimism and debt?

“Energy has shifted from being a national advantage to a growing constraint,” the report warns, citing Britain’s premium-grade power prices. “Clean electricity is the future of UK energy… Unless the foundations are fixed, however, the risks are clear: higher costs, weaker reliability, lost public confidence and a growing backlash against climate action.” Sounds like Brits are tired of paying luxury rates for basic necessities.

Affordability is now declared to be the new priority. Which is refreshing, considering that for years anyone who mentioned the financial side of going green was treated like they personally clubbed a penguin stranded on an ice floe.

The government’s own target of removing fossil fuels from the grid by 2030 has slipped into the realm of fiction. So the narrative now shifts to keeping things from getting worse in the short term, while promising Net Zero glory by 2050. Hence the Blair report title: “Cheaper Power 2030, Net Zero 2050: Resetting the UK’s Electricity Strategy for the Future.” Okay, so they’re just going to hit snooze on the hard part, okay? At least enough to lull everyone back to sleep so the government can keep rifling through their pockets.