Ex-Boris Johnson advisor visits North East on clean energy fact-finding mission

A FORMER No10 advisor to Boris Johnson has been visiting the North East this week as part of research into how the green revolution can be fast-tracked across the UK.

Sam Richards, who leads new cross-party campaign group Britain Remade, has been meeting business, community and political leaders in County Durham, Wearside and Northumberland to ask what ‘green’ changes people want to see in their communities.

Richards was a government adviser on energy and industrial policy in the Johnson government which enshrined Net Zero targets in law.

His fact-finding comes after an Opinium poll for his group found public support for fast-tracking green energy projects and infrastructure, and a desire for creating long-term national energy security via renewables.

The poll commissioned by Britain Remade revealed that:

• 67% of the public think the country is bad at delivering the infrastructure it needs, while just 18% think it has a good track record.
• more than half of Britons want new Clean Energy Zones across the country, which would speed up the planning process for renewable energy projects.
• 52% of the public support fast-tracking clean infrastructure projects, the poll found, while just 11% were opposed.
• 70% of those asked thought Britain had made too many short-term decisions about energy supply in the past, while 61% said the country imported too much energy. Just 6% thought Britain was importing too little and 8% said the amount was “about right”.
• there was strong support for an expansion of solar farms and offshore windfarms around Britain in the YouGov poll, with coal and gas-fired power stations and fracking bottom of the public’s priorities.

Britain Remade says it wants to escape the ‘Westminster bubble’, to discover what the nation wants, and build a policy case to push ahead with changes and reforms to help achieve its development potential.

Former Nissan worker Richards, who is set for a round-table in Sunderland today (Jan 19), said: “Britain Remade will campaign to remove the hurdles standing in the way of a new industrial revolution, that will speed up the country’s drive towards energy independence and help families with the cost of living.

“Britain’s ideas and industries shaped the modern world and we can do it again, but a lack of investment, Westminster short-termism, and a broken planning system are holding us back.”

Britain Remade says is taking a cross-party focus – hoping to influence all political parties rather than be a cheerleader for one.

Richards said: “Across the UK, infrastructure projects that will reduce our reliance on foreign gas, slash bills and create decent jobs are being held up by bottlenecks in our planning system.

“This is just one reason why the British economy is stalling and Britain Remade will campaign to fix this.”

Britain Remade says it will publish a plan for change in 2023.