The UK government has backed the development of new gas-fired power plants, in the latest move by Rishi Sunak to portray his government as taking a pragmatic approach to tackling climate change.
Outlining the plans on Tuesday to back more electricity generation from fossil fuels, the prime minister said he would “not gamble with [Britain’s] energy security” despite plans to decarbonise the electricity grid by the middle of the next decade.
Referring to the reliance on wind and solar power in the right weather conditions, Sunak added that Britain would reach the government’s 2035 target in a “sustainable way that doesn’t leave people without energy on a cloudy, windless day”.