Boris Johnson says all UK electricity will be green by 2035

Boris Johnson confirms ALL of the UK’s electricity will come from green sources by 2035 as the PM claims energy bills will fall – but Tory MPs warn Red Wall voters must not ‘bear the brunt’ of the shift to clean power

  • Boris Johnson confirmed he wants all electric to be from green sources by 2035
  • The Prime Minister claimed the shift to green power could result in lower bills
  • Policy will be seen as major step towards hitting net zero emissions by 2050 

Boris Johnson today confirmed that all of Britain’s electricity will come from green sources by 2035. 

The Prime Minister said ‘we think that we can get to complete clean energy production’ by the middle of the next decade.

He claimed the shift to green power will result in lower energy bills because UK consumers will no longer be exposed to ‘the vagaries in hydrocarbon prices’ coming from abroad.

However, Tory MPs have expressed concerns about the cost of the transition to green energy, warning that ‘Red Wall communities should not bear the brunt’. 

Mr Johnson is expected to use his Conservative Party conference speech in Manchester on Wednesday to pledge to invest significantly in renewable and nuclear energy. 

More investment in clean power would represent a clear step towards the Government’s ambition of hitting net zero emissions by 2050. 

Boris Johnson today confirmed that all of Britain’s electricity will come from green sources by 2035

The Prime Minister said ‘we think that we can get to complete clean energy production’ by the middle of the next decade

Speaking to reporters during a visit to a Network Rail site in Manchester, Mr Johnson said: ‘What I’m saying is we can do for our entire energy production by 2035 what we’re doing with internal combustion engines in vehicles by 2030.

‘By 2030, you won’t be able to buy any more a new hydrocarbon-fuelled internal combustion engine car and we’re going to move to clean power of one kind or another.

‘And that will make a huge difference to our CO2 output, to controlling climate change, to our planet, but it will also put the UK at the forefront of this amazing new industry of clean vehicles.

‘And what we’re also saying is that by 2035, looking at the progress we’re making in wind power, where we lead the world now in offshore wind, looking at what we can do with other renewable sources, carbon capture and storage with hydrogen, potentially, we think that we can get to complete clean energy production by 2035.

‘The advantage of that is that it will mean that, for the first time, the UK is not dependent on hydrocarbons coming from overseas with all the vagaries in hydrocarbon prices and the risk that poses for people’s pockets and for the consumer.

‘We will be reliant on our own clean power generation which will help us also to keep costs down.’

But Jake Berry, the chairman of the Northern Research Group of an estimated 50 Tory MPs, expressed concerns about how the shift to green energy production will be paid for. 

He tweeted: ‘We need the former mining communities to lead the green industrial revolution. 

‘We need to bring the cost of the green transition down. Red Wall communities should not bear the brunt of the transition to green energy.’     

Green sources generated 43 per cent of Britain’s electricity last year, while gas, oil and coal produced around 40 per cent. The rest of the country’s needs were filled by nuclear sources.

Mr Johnson is expected to use his Conservative Party conference speech in Manchester on Wednesday to pledge to invest significantly in renewable and nuclear energy

The new 2035 target will mean a significant growth in offshore wind generation as well as in nuclear capacity to provide a ‘baseload’ of electricity which will meet variable supply and demand.

It will require, over the coming decade, a minimum quadrupling of offshore wind from the current level.

Joss Garman, UK director of the European Climate Foundation, said: ‘This will go a very long way to putting Britain on track to net zero, and it will help to end the exposure of millions of households to volatile gas prices.

‘Coming on top of a matching pledge from President Biden and prime minister Trudeau, this will give a boost to prospects for Cop26.’

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