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Feb 3 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
If only the UK government had invested in renewables over all the years that campaigners asked it to do so and had invested in the R&D necessary to make us a world leader on this issue, as we could have done, we would not have needed today's energy price increase.
We have an energy crisis because our government failed. In 2010 when it was obvious that we needed a Green New Deal the Tories delivered a sham Green Deal that was soon closed down because it delivered nothing of consequence. Since then every opportunity has been missed.
I am proud to have been a member of the Green New Deal group since 2008. We have worked tirelessly to offer the alternative energy vision for the UK and the required economics to make it work. Shamefully, the government ignored us, and Labour has not been much better.
Now we are paying the price for that in terms of massively increased fuel poverty. Will they listen now? This really is the time for a Green New Deal

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More from @RichardJMurphy

Richard Murphy Profile picture
Feb 4
UK energy prices increased by around 50% yesterday but the cost of producing most energy has not increased. Nuclear and renewables cost the same to produce, for example. So, the price increases deliver very large profits to some energy companies. Why is Sunak happy about that?
The problem is energy is priced at the cost of the most expensive unit sold. As a result, Russia can push up gas prices and create an economic crisis in the UK. If we had a nationalised energy system that supplied our energy at the average price we could avoid this.
Instead of our energy being priced at the cost of the most expensive source available we’d instead pay the price set by a basket of energy sources. We’d see nothing like the proposed cost increase as a result, and the crisis for families across the UK could have been avoided.
Read 9 tweets
Richard Murphy Profile picture
Jan 31
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, @SimonClarkeMP, claimed in several broadcast interviews this morning that increasing interest rates by 1% would increase the cost of government borrowing by £23bn a year. He's wrong. A quick thread...
According to the ONS Public Sector Net Debt on 31/12/21 was £2,340 billion pounds. So to come up with his figure it's pretty clear that Simon Clarke multiplied this by 1%. That's how complicated his fag pocket calculation was. But that number is wrong.
First, according to the Debt Management Office of HM Treasury at least 33% of all UK government debt is owned by the Bank of England on behalf of HM Treasury - so the government owes this money to itself. That cancels one-third of the debt and so the interest cost.
Read 12 tweets
Richard Murphy Profile picture
Jan 29
We witnessed an attempted coup this week. A prime minister who has very obviously broken the law on many occasions and who holds the people of this country in contempt sought to stay in power aided and abetted by his party and the police. A thread….
The charge sheet against Johnson is enormous. He broke the law on Covid parties, many times. He permitted the corrupt PPE fast lane to enrich his supporters. He has taken or failed to take action resulting in tens of thousands of excess Covid deaths.
As PM he has lied to parliament, successively. He secured illicit funding for the decoration of his flat and tried to gain personally from doing so. He has threatened to break international law and denies responsibility for the Brexit deal he negotiated.
Read 35 tweets
Richard Murphy Profile picture
Jan 28
So let's be clear. The Met is asking that a report into Downing Street parties should not refer to Downing Street parties because the Met thinks it might have some issues to investigate about them now, even though until this moment it's denied that. This feels like corruption.
I stress the ‘feels like’. In the context of past Met refusal to investigate which meant there was no option but set up a civil service inquiry to now suggest that the inquiry in question should not be published in full because the Met now realise there is evidence feels wrong.
By ‘feels wrong’ I mean that it looks like the Met are obstructing the process of justice we were promised in the face of their persistent and adamant refusal that they would not act. In other words, their intervention now feels like an obstruction of justice in itself.
Read 4 tweets
Richard Murphy Profile picture
Jan 23
It’s good to say that everyone is equal. They are. But when it comes to government policy that’s not enough. That policy has to be biased towards those who have least because those with the most are already more than equal. A thread....
We live in a country that is very biased to those already ahead. For example, we spend almost £60 billion a year subsidising pensions and the savings of those who are already wealthy, just to boost the value of the stock market and bankers.
On top of that we don’t charge VAT on private school fees, private healthcare and second homes. We also massively under tax income derived from wealth, companies, capital gains, and expensive homes when it comes to council tax.
Read 31 tweets
Richard Murphy Profile picture
Jan 20
In an interview with the Financial Times Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP has pledged that a government led by Sir Keir Starmer would be proudly “pro-business”. But what does that actually mean? A thread....
A party on the left saying that it wants to be “pro-business” always raises suspicions. The obvious suggestion implicit in the claim is that at its core the party in question is not pro-business, or has not been, or is at the very least seeking to change perception.
Reeves claim is as far as I can see admission of all those things. The reporting I have seen suggests that Reeves is contrasting her position with that of the Corbyn team. The suggestion is that they were not pro-business and that she will provide a contrast.
Read 32 tweets

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