Reform government could cause Truss-style chaos, says renewables industry

Britain could be beset by levels of economic chaos last seen under Liz Truss if a Reform UK government were to fulfil its promise to strip renewable energy projects of subsidy contracts, according to the industry’s chief lobbyist. The anti-renewables policy put forward by Nigel Farage’s populist party would severely undermine investor confidence in the energy industry and across the wider UK economy, the new chief executive of RenewableUK said. “The signal this would send to the entire investor community would be really damaging,” according to Tara Singh, a former energy adviser to David Cameron. Before the upcoming elections to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and councils across England , Singh said the policy threatened to push up the cost of building new infrastructure across the economy if investors lose faith in a would-be government’s economic agenda. “We’ve all lived through a Liz Truss era, and I don’t think this is something that we would want to go back to,” she said. Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, gave “formal notice” to large renewable energy developers last summer that it would axe any deals struck in the government’s subsidy auction if it came to power. In a letter sent to energy companies, Tice said the “ political consensus that has sheltered your industry for nearly two decades is fracturing” and the party would “seek to strike down all contracts” if it formed a government. …