Kemi Badenoch Called Out Over Glaring Flaw With Her Plan To Ease Energy Strains

Kemi Badenoch was slammed for her new plan to drop Net Zero altogether during her broadcast rounds this morning.

The Tory leader claimed drilling in the North Sea would help ease the upcoming energy crisis, and dismissed the UK’s legally binding target to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 as a “slogan”.

She also claimed the country would go “bankrupt” because of the policy, which was championed by former Tory prime minister Theresa May.

Badenoch has called for the government to approve more oil and gas drilling in the UK in response to the strain the Iran war has put on global energy supplies.

“The first thing [the government] should do is start drilling our own oil and gas in the North Sea,” the Tory leader told Sky News. “It’s important for our energy security, our economic security, our national security, and they’re not doing [it].”

Presenter Trevor Phillips said: “That’s all very helpful, but the point is none of that oil would come on stream for years.”

He added: “I’m asking you what should happen in the next few months when this conflict is on, which is what people are worried about, what will happen between now and the summer, not what will happen next year or the year after.”

Badenoch said: “I’m not even talking about next year. I’m talking about this year.”

“There will be no oil coming out of Rosebank this year, you know that,” he hit back – while the Tory leader insisted gas would be accessible by this winter and that drilling would save British jobs, too.

“Governments are elected to do the right thing right now. That is not to bankrupt the country with a plan that is not working,” she told Sky News. “What we need is cheap, abundant energy – it should be clean, that means doing everything we can, nuclear, renewables, and oil and gas, too.”

Asked about the risks of fuel rationing, Badenoch said: “You’re speaking about a hypothetical. I don’t want to be in a situation where people are panic buying fuel because of speculative discussions.”

And on the BBC, presenter Laura Kuenssberg suggested Badenoch had been “misleading” people with her suggestion that this would make bills cheaper.

But the Tory leader claimed that is not what she was saying.

She said: “No, I’m not saying that once you drill oil and gas in the North Sea, it’s going to go straight on to your bills.

“No one has said that, but it is all related. And pretending that it is not related is very dishonest from a government that has a terrible energy policy.”

Labour’s chair Anna Turley slammed Badenoch’s broadcast performances, saying: “Kemi Badenoch’s energy policy has completely fallen apart. She’s been forced to admit her central energy intervention won’t bring people’s bills down. And she can’t say whether she’d support families who might need help.

“Badenoch wanted to send British troops head first into a war without thinking about the consequences. Now she’s putting forward energy plans that she freely admits won’t help Brits struggling with their bills. She is completely out of her depth and proving once again that she’s unfit for high office.”