Robin Guenier has just drawn Cliscep readers’ attention to an article in the Telegraph, written by Claire Coutinho. The heading (“Miliband’s pledge to lower heating bills was always pure fantasy – now we have the proof; It’s becoming painfully clear that Labour’s ‘clean power’ revolution will fail to deliver on its promises”) is encouraging for those of us who believe that the new government’s dash to “decarbonise” the grid by 2030 is going to be destructive (of jobs and of the environment), expensive, pointless, and stupid.

Robin makes a very good point:

…Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly) she’s missed one small detail: that the entire Net Zero shebang is a disastrous and pointless waste of time and money introduced by a Conservative government in 2019 – the year she became an Tory MP – going on to become DESNZ Secretary of State with the specific objective of implementing this mad policy.

He’s right, of course, but I am keen to take the positives, and am optimistic as to what this might mean for the net zero debate hereafter. For a start, until now a debate has been almost non-existent (certainly in Parliament), but I think one is beginning. Recently, there was the poor (but better than nothing) debate in the House of Lords. And now I anticipate that things may get a little more lively in the House of Commons.

I am particularly impressed by this:

I was brought in to be energy secretary last year to reset the Conservative approach to energy and to make sure that we prioritised bills and living standards above a religious approach to net zero.

Unfortunately for too long we were an unthinking part of the congregation, but in Ed Miliband we are now being led by the archbishop.

The truth is now obvious for all to see: bills are set to soar under Labour’s approach and it’s not even clear that Miliband will be able to keep the lights on in Britain…

I may be wrong, of course, but I suspect that I detect the hand of Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the opposition, in this, as it seems to mark a definite change of emphasis. “… [F]or too long we were an unthinking part of the congregation” reads to me like an admission of guilt, a recognition that net zero is a vote loser, and a belief that votes are to be won by opposing it. It’s a first step only, but then a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Combine this with the election of Donald Trump over the Pond, and we could be in for interesting times.