GMB Magazine GMB24 Centre Point Spring 2016 | Page 18
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F the lights go out – don’t blame us!”
warned GMB members working in our
energy industry. The last Yorkshire
miners said the same thing after they
worked the final shift at Kellingley, the nation’s
last colliery.
This slogan tells a bigger truth. Britain faces
the risk of devastating power cuts because
the government’s energy policy just isn’t fit
for purpose. Since taking power, ministers
have announced the closure of all coal-fired
power stations, given massive hand-outs for
heavily polluting oil generators, scrapped
funding for carbon capture and storage,
invited the Chinese to finance new nuclear
power and ended subsidies for wind and solar.
That’s just for starters. The Tories are
making policy on the hoof, with potentially
disastrous results. The margin of spare
generating capacity available next winter
has fallen to its lowest level since the industry
Rex Features/EDF/iStock
Daily Mirror columnist Paul
Routledge reports on the Tories’
short-term energy policy…
was privatised. Worryingly, power cuts just
can’t be ruled out.
GMB supports a balanced energy policy
with a mix of power sources including
nuclear, gas and renewables. We can’t rely
on wind power to keep the lights on. For 12
days this winter, wind delivered 10 per cent
or less of the installed wind electricity
capacity. The National Grid had to invoke
special measures to keep the lights on.
Wind power can yield inadequate output
up to 10 days every month.
NUCLEAR NEEDED
General Secretary Tim Roache s ZY8