Boris Johnson faces revolt over onshore wind farms as planning restrictions are due to be eased
- Boris Johnson may see resistance if he tries to make it easier to build wind farms
- Eight of his Cabinet ministers have previously opposed similar proposals in 2012
- The Business Secretary believes more turbines are needed to lower energy bills
Boris Johnson is facing a potential Cabinet revolt after it emerged the Government wants to make it easier to build onshore wind farms.
Planning controls are expected to be eased as part of the new energy security strategy expected next week.
Yesterday Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, confirmed that ministers believe the UK needs a major ‘acceleration’ in onshore wind farms to reduce bills and to guarantee energy supplies in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured at an offshore wind farm in 2021) may face resistance from his cabinet if he pushes the government to try and make it easier for onshore wind farms to be built
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng believes people's attitudes towards wind farms have changed and that they are necessary to improve energy supplies
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But the issue is likely to be controversial with Tory rank and file, many of whom do not want to see the ability of local residents to object to wind farms rescinded.
Eight of Mr Johnson’s Cabinet ministers, including Priti Patel, Nadine Dorries, Nadhim Zahawi and Jacob Rees-Mogg, were among 101 Conservative MPs, who signed a letter to former prime minister David Cameron in 2012, calling on the Government to withdraw subsidies for the farms and ensure the planning system ‘properly takes into account the views of local people’.
Mr Kwarteng said Britons had since changed their minds on windfarms.
Tory MP Bob Blackman said: ‘It would be a total disaster. It’s extremely unpopular, they’re ugly, and they don’t necessarily produce enough energy. I do think if we start getting into energy supply, it should be fracking, not onshore wind.’
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