Tory MPS urge Sunak to stand firm and keep onshore wind ban

BRITAIN’S food security will be put at risk if the onshore wind ban is lifted, Conservative MPS have warned.

Rishi Sunak is under pressure to remove the prohibition on new turbines to tackle the energy crisis amid a growing split on the issue within the party. Backbenchers, including former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, have signed an amendment laid by Simon Clarke, that demands an end to the ban.

But 24 Tory MPS and two peers have now written to the Prime Minister urging him to stand firm, arguing offshore wind is more efficient and changing direction would be a politically dangerous move.

“A change of policy would undoubtedly result in high grade farm land being permanently affected at a time when we are acutely aware of the importance of food security,” their letter reads.

“The environmental costs of turbine construction and fitting means that the ‘payback period’, the time before they become environmentally beneficial, is frequently underestimated and invariably unstated by their advocates.”

The group, which is led by Sir John Hayes, also noted that local opposition to wind farms was “likely to be intense and politically damaging”.

They argued that while onshore wind may appear economically desirable amid high gas prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, shortages would inevitably be followed by gluts.

“The communal cost for generations to come that such industrialisation of the countryside brings is surely too great for Conservatives to bear,” the letter concludes.

Craig Mackinlay, MP for South Thanet and one of the signatories to the letter, said: “In a country that has limited land for food production, to devote ever-increasing square miles to wind farms and solar seems to me a completely mad enterprise.”

During the summer leadership contest, Mr Sunak pledged not to build any new wind farms and argued a massive expansion in offshore wind would be more effective.

However, Mr Clarke’s amendment – and his reference to wind farm opponents as “anti-growth” – has reignited a fierce debate among the parliamentary party thought to extend to the Cabinet.

Michael Gove, the Housing Secretary, has told allies he supports an end to the ban and is understood to have been joined by Grant Shapps, the Business Secretary.

Limits on new onshore wind have been in place since 2016.