David Cameron must be even more cock-a-hoop than he was 7 days ago. Labour continue their quest to remain unelectable for a generation as leadership contender Yvette Cooper claims they didn’t spend too much ahead of the credit crunch despite all evidence to the contrary and the complicit actions of her former MP husband Ed “Not me Guv” Balls.
Salmond and Sturgeon’s fishy grasp of democratic politics continues as within 7 days of taking their seats they are already briefing on a new independence referendum despite an overwhelming rejection last September in their “once in a generation” vote and their promise not to make a referendum a policy objective in their manifesto.
Meanwhile Farage and his angry brigade have finally turned their ire on one another.
The Lib Dems underline the folly of their writing of the second longest suicide note in history.
And the Greens? Well only Natalie Bennett truly believes the election was a success but given reality and Bennett have rarely proven bedfellows since her promotion to leader it comes as no surprise that her opinion is a scantly held one.
So that leads Cameron, with a slender majority against a basket case of opposition parties and a potential mandate to lurch to the right and extinguish any semblance of Tory compromise.
But no, in the arena closest to our heart, energy, Cameron has made a surprising but sound appointment in Amber Rudd to replace Ed Davey as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Drowning out the noise of climate change deniers and anti-wind farm pickles in the process.
This is good, shrewd news.
Progressive realism is exactly what is needed in UK energy policy and that is exactly what Rudd can deliver, building on the foundation left by Davey without the need to differentiate and equivocate away from concrete action that his Lib Dem representation implied.
Rudd has started well claiming:
“My ambition in my new role is quite simple: to keep the lights on and carbon emissions down, whilst saving consumers money on their energy bills.”
Adding:
“We need to shout loud about the benefits of switching energy tariffs; I will continue to urge people across the country to take advantage of the most competitive energy market we have ever had so they can save hundreds of pounds on their energy bills”.
The balanced and pragmatic approach promised by Rudd has been praised in unlikely quarters with Friends of the Earth’s Simon Bullock, their Senior Climate Change Campaigner, saying:
“Amber Rudd has already acknowledged the need to boost renewables and increase investment in energy efficiency – and importantly she recognises the devastating impact that climate change will have without action”.
Letting markets do the work, highlighting the need for individuals and not states to act in order to deliver change and taking a pragmatic and constructive approach to energy diversification and investment sounds alright by us.
Welcome Amber, we have a feeling things are looking up for the chances of sane UK energy policy.