Cold hearts and tree-huggers still?

No stranger to tight deadlines, business and energy secretary Michael ­Fallon is racing to hammer out the details of the draft delivery plan for Electricity Market Reform before Parliament's summer recess begins on 18 July. He took a quick break from his packed schedule last week to reassure Utility Week's Megan Darby that plans for the capacity market are on track.

Fallon’s no-nonsense style and steady pair of hands may be just what the legislation needs as it stutters through its final stages. But his reluctance to be drawn on climate change or to acknowledge its relevance to his brief is an ill omen for Ed Davey’s pledge to end the perception that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is split between “cold-hearted economists” and “tree-hugging environmentalists”. The cracks in the coalition continue to confuse energy policy.

Ellen Bennett

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 12th July 2013.

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