UK ‘at the back of the queue’ for developing interconnectors

Brexit has pushed the UK to the “back of the queue” for developing interconnectors, Sir Ed Davey has claimed.

Speaking at an event organised by the thinktank Policy Exchange this week, the former energy and climate change secretary of state said that he “never found any European rules that got in the way” of the UK’s renewable energy push.

The “biggest damage” resulting from EU withdrawal to Britain’s power system had been to the development of fixed energy links with its neighbouring countries he said: “If you look at the way interconnectors are going, we are now at the back of the queue thanks to Brexit and we were at the front of the queue.

“One of the problems with Brexit, as in many areas, is that it has reduced the size of the market you are trading in and in a market, you need liquidity.

“Reducing the size of the market means less efficiency and less competition, less price transparency and lessened our energy security and to influence and expand our ability to trade in Europe’s single power market.”

Davey was speaking ahead of news breaking on the same day that a cable fire in Kent had knocked our National Grid’s IFA interconnector until next month.

The Liberal Democrats leader’s comments were a response to a claim by Dame Andrea Leadsom, former secretary of state for business and energy, that being able to vet for carbon footprint when awarding Contracts for Difference auctions was a “little Brexit dividend”.

She said that prior to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the trading bloc’s procurement rules meant that carbon footprint could not be taken into account when awarding such contracts.

Also speaking at the event, shadow secretary of state for business and energy Ed Miliband said the UK would need nuclear power along with other zero carbon sources of power like renewables.

He said the UK “should look at all options” for decarbonising its power sector.

In the transition to net zero, diversity of supply is “increasingly important” and that renewable power sources, like solar wind and tidal would be needed alongside nuclear, Miliband added.

Quizzed on whether a new department should be created to spearhead the drive to cut emissions, Davey’s fellow ex-energy secretary Amber Rudd said that it could work if a heavy hitter was appointed to lead it.

“Whoever has that role, if we had a new department, would have to be a really senior cabinet minister, like a deputy prime minister with authority.

“There is no point having it as a junior department on its own, it is stronger at the moment within BEIS.

“It’s a good idea as long as it is a senior role.”