Sam Maclaine

A niche but important policy change - Ed Miliband has axed the full system costs of renewables I initiated last year. Bad data is at the heart of bad policy. DESNZ existing models are badly flawed. They look at an inch of the elephant - wholesale costs - rather than the whole beast - cost of back up, storage and constraints. We will not get cheaper energy until Ministers can make decisions based on the right figures. But even though the facts are being increasingly exposed - Labour *don’t want to know the truth* - which is why they’ve canned the costings work. Ed’s energy policy is ideological without any care about the hardship it will cause.

Misinformation is becoming a worrying part of our democracy — pushed by the far right and now amplified by the Conservatives. This week, Labour MPs voted against a Tory attempt to block the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. I explained this on Politics North this morning.

Yet another cold day in which UK depends on gas to generate almost 50% of our electricity, with wind managing only 12%. We’re importing 17% from various European neighbours, almost half of that from France (we’d better hope its aging nuclear stations hold up this winter), contributing to our perennial balance of payments deficit. Plus — so much for Miliband’s mission to banish fossil fuels and lead us to energy independence through renewables.