Restoring the Department of Energy Won't Solve the Crisis

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, was energy secretary in the coalition government, when energy and climate change was a stand-alone department. In an interview on the Today programme, asked about reports that Rishi Sunak is going to bring back that arrangement, Davey said Sunak needed to change his policies, not just the Whitehall machinery.

He told the programme:

"I do think bringing in energy department back is a positive step.

"But, by itself, changing Whitehall machinery doesn’t get you better energy policy. Changing energy policy is also what’s needed. And we’ve not really seen anything to suggest that’s going to happen.

"I think since 2015 their energy policy has been a disaster. We haven’t seen the investment in energy efficiency and installation that we should have done, or in renewables. Both of those would have meant that people’s bills would, still be higher because of Putin’s illegal invasion, but would be lower than they are now. That failure on energy policy has been an absolute disaster.

"And my worry with this prime minister is while he might bring back a department focused on energy that could help deliver a change in policy, he’s announced some quite anti-renewable views during his leadership campaign. I just hope he drops those."