The war on gas boilers
Fri 12:53 am +00:00, 14 Aug 2026
EXC: Miatta Fahnbulleh’s DESNZ SpAds: A War on Gas Boilers, Banning Cars, and ‘Colonial Debt’
Burnham’s radical Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh is putting together her SpAd team. Guido presents their policy views – Miatta’s are well-known to co-conspirators…
Colm Britchfield has worked mostly at climate think tank E3G, where he specialised in energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation. Some of his positions:
Said government should accelerate phase-out of gas boilers through a range of measures as a matter of urgency.
Massively pro-heat pump: called them the “crucial solution,” supported by billions of pounds of taxpayer cash subsidy and investment.
Suggested that state could pay the entire training and accreditation cost for tens of thousands of heat-pump installers and compensate them for lost working time.
Advocated hiking stamp duty for less energy efficient properties.
Argued for compulsory minimum energy-efficiency standards in owner-occupied homes: the majority of households. Imposing huge costs…
Also proposed legally mandated energy-efficiency requirements for landlords including strong penalties for non-compliance and an EPC C requirement for all new tenancies.
Advocated reducing energy demand among citizens including through “behavioural change.“
Some co-conspirators will be aware of Carys Roberts, who used to run the left-wing think tank IPPR. She had a stint in Starmer’s policy unit before leaving in 2025. Her relevant positions here:
£30 billion of extra green investment every year.
Criticised abandonment of Labour £28 billion pledge: “The UK sorely needs investment to grow our economy and to shift it decisively towards net zero.”
State-forced retraining of workers into green jobs including a statutory or quasi-statutory “right to retrain.”
Grants and loans for insulation, support for installing “green heating systems”, and a nationwide retrofit programme. All with a huge price tag…
Make all local public transport free by 2030. Many many billions…
Mandatory 50% reduction in car use in towns and cities by 2030.
Ban on new road capacity.
Legal principle for national planning policy that everything should be within 20-minute walk or public transport.
National road user charging scheme to reduce traffic, alongside local congestion charges.
Halve meat and dairy consumption by 2030.
New “non-essential food levy.”
Shut down North Sea oil and gas activity completely.
Government-wide “net zero and protection of nature rule” applying to all laws.
Cross-economy carbon tax of £75 per tonne of CO₂.
As a bonus, here’s some post-colonial wokery Roberts argued in a report:
“As policymakers seek to accelerate automation and the adoption of green technologies, they should also consider the impact on global communities. A transition which relies on exploitative labour in the global south and the unsustainable use of global resources and natural commons by countries such as the UK, with existing colonial and industrial debts, would not be a just transition… we may need to evaluate whether those technologies can be used, or if we need to find new technologies that use resources more efficiently.“
A problem for green tech there – anyone know where the cobalt, lithium, and manganese comes from?
August 12 2026 @ 14:11
