Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | FEBRUARY 2021 | 13 Policy & Regulation Talking Points… Who is Anne-Marie Trevelyan? The new energy minister's arrival will not be greeted with enthusiasm by some in the renewables sector. Comment David Blackman Policy correspondent L ast month Anne-Marie Trevelyan was appointed energy minister, to work under newly promoted energy secre- tary Kwasi Kwarteng. So what sort of energy secretary will she be and does her track record o• er any clues? "Monstrosities" is how she is reported to have once described wind turbines. And this was no one-o• comment from a Conserva- tive MP who made opposition to wind farms a centrepiece of her ultimately successful campaign to recapture Berwick on Tweed from the Liberal Democrats in the 2015. A press release issued by the local Tory party in 2014 described the 51-year old as a "prominent anti-wind turbine campaigner". She said the cost of subsidising the building of new turbines was "entirely unac- ceptable" from a source of energy that was "intermittent, ine‡ cient, inadequate". A‰ er being elected to the Commons in 2015, Trevelyan put her name to an article in the Metro newspaper backing fracking. More recently, she opposed plans for an open cast coal mine at a beauty spot in her con- stituency. However, she is not amongst the 100-plus Tory parliamentarians who have signed up as supporters of the Conservative Environment Network. On the national stage, Trevelyan swi‰ ly established a reputation as a committed supporter of Brexit. She resigned as a parlia- mentary private secretary at the Department of Education in November 2018 in protest against then-prime minister Theresa May's Brexit deal. Her reward came following Boris John- son's success in winning the Conservative leadership when the new PM appointed the former chartered accountant to a junior ministerial role in the Ministry of Defence. She was then fast-tracked into the Cabinet, taking over from Alok Sharma as secretary of state for international develop- ment last February – a role that only lasted until September when her department was merged into the Foreign O‡ ce. However, with Alok Sharma's move to become president of COP26, Trevelyan has made a swi‰ return to government. Many will worry that her track record means she is not cut out to take forward Johnson's ambitions to transform the UK into the "Saudi Arabia of renewable energy". It is less than a year ago that onshore wind farms were allowed back into the contracts for di• erence regime that the new energy minister attacked so › ercely. But while Trevelyan's rise may be greeted with gloom by renewable energy cham- pions, they will be relieved that her boss will be Kwarteng, who held her role for more than a year and a half. His promo- tion received plaudits from the likes of RenewablesUK, which described him as a "strong champion" of clean power. And with Sharma retaining his Cabinet seat as COP president, albeit based at the Cabinet O‡ ce, e• orts to tackle climate change will have an additional voice at the government's top table. Both Kwarteng and his predecessor, Claire O'Neill, enjoyed plenty of leeway in the energy and clean growth portfolio. In addition, being a former secretary of state in her own right will give Trevelyan more authority than most ministers. With the UK due to host the COP summit in just under ten months' time, the energy minister has a pivotal role to play this year. The fear is that Johnson has shoehorned a loyalist back into government for short- term party management reasons without considering whether he has appointed the right person for the job. Trevelyan may have her work cut out to convince doubters. The new energy minister's arrival will not be greeted with enthusiasm by some in the "Let us resolve to avoid wanton regulation. But let us also recognise that good environmental regulation is not red tape: it is what will get us a green recovery and a blue planet." Sir James Bevan, chief executive, Environment Agency "The green agenda and the whole green industrial revolution is not just a load of green nonsense, as people sometimes seem to suggest, with extra costs for businesses and for families. If you do it right, it is the opportunity to generate hundreds of thousands of jobs for this country." Prime minister Boris Johnson "It [the white paper] is a big beast but it's not all encompassing. We don't see a strategy for behaviour change to the extent that we need for emissions reduction at scale." Chris Stark, chief executive, Climate Change Committe. Quote, unquote

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