Chaitanya Kumar

“The numbers should be taken with a pinch of salt.”

NEF’s @alchap.bsky.social on Heathrow for ITV.

“Similar figures were promoted last time round and were later discredited by the government’s own advisers.”

🔗 itv.com/news/2025-07-31/heathrow-reveals-plan-for-third-runway-but-will-it-take-off

David Mencer has to be the most insufferable human being on the planet!

We found that Reform's plans to attack renewable energy industries could wipe £92bn off the UK economy and destroy 60,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

These plans would damage our economic health and the health of our climate. 1/2

Who is benefitting from this government's airport expansion drive? ✈️

Meet... the ultra-frequent flyer. @alchap.bsky.social breaks down everything you need to know about this group, and how the are taking more than their fair share of flights. 1/2

All this is welcome stuff but big q as always is, will it survive elections, price shocks and Treasury fiscal orthodoxy? Its hard to say.

But for now, it’s a blueprint worth taking seriously. More detailed deep dive once I've actually read the full pack.
@neweconomics.bsky.social

Alongside this, a new Clean Energy Workforce Strategy is due this summer. Some addnl funding (£100m+ for technical skills); new technical excellence colleges, an “Energy Skills Passport” for oil & gas workers to move into clean jobs and Union involvement explicitly supported.

But who pays for this? The govt plan is to use rising revenues from the UK Emissions Trading Scheme.
As carbon prices rise, ETS income rises—and that pays for lower bills.

ETS carbon prices are indeed projected to rise⬆️, from ~£45 today to ~£100+ by 2030–35. But we also know these are v volatile!

The headline change? From 2027, the govt will:

Remove policy levies like RO/CM (£35–40/MWh)
Offer network charge relief (~£14/MWh)
Maintain Climate Change Levy discounts

This will cut industrial electricity prices but all else being equal, they will still remain high compared to EU median.

The idea of not picking winners was always myopic. The strategy targets key sectors like
⚡ Offshore wind
⚛️ Nuclear
🔥 Heat pumps
💨 Hydrogen
🛢️ Carbon capture
🌐 Grid infrastructure

These 'frontier sectors' get targeted investment, planning reform, and support.

Some useful diagnosis that sets the context:
❌ Past policy was too short-term
❌ Market signals alone didn’t build resilient supply chains
❌ UK industry has been hamstrung by high energy costs

The latter has captured all the headlines and rightly so as elec prices are highest in UK for industry.

There's a lot to dig into the government's new industrial strategy policy paper. But a few quick thoughts on the 'clean energy sector plan' published today. 👇 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685878...

You've heard of frequent flyers, but we've got some new research for you on the idea of ultra- frequent flyers.

Exciting work from my colleague @alchap.bsky.social where he makes a compelling case as to why this new class of flyers is not paying it's fair share of tax and how we can fix it. 👇👇

The official report on the blackout in Spain and Portugal was just released. I'll give a quick summary of findings and provide some additional info.

TL;DR
conventional power plants didn't control the voltage as planned
over-voltage caused renewables to turn off as required

Folks, CBO estimate of the distributional effect of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is out: www.cbo.gov/system/files...

It's grotesque

GB Energy’s promised £8.3bn budget raided to pay for small nuclear reactors National energy company effectively loses £2.5bn to separate body tasked with spearheading nuclear renaissance

This is an unfortunate headline. There's no 'raiding' of the GBE budget for nuclear. The disappointment is its official classification as an investment vehicle and not a generator that builds, operates and fully owns energy assets. That was the original vision!
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

not surprised, just didn't seem clear from the very beginning. now it is.

cc @cmmonwealth.bsky.social @james-bg.bsky.social , @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org ,

Looks like GB energy is a public finance institution after all! Oh well, that is disappointing. The vision was to have a publicly owned generator of mature tech, now it will offer loans and buy equity. The OG vision deferred to the 2030s or beyond.

Text: Reform's anti-renewables policies could wipe £92bn off the economy

NEW: Our latest analysis reveals that Reform's anti-environmental policies could cost the country £92bn in lost revenue and wipe out more than 60,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

This is what you get when technocrats wade into a knife fight with a spreadsheet (a weak one in this case).

They think they’re depoliticising the climate debate, but all they’re really doing is laundering right-wing talking points in the language of reason.

Blaming the blackout on net zero won’t keep the lights on The blackout in Spain and Portugal is a reminder of the complexities involved in modernising our energy systems. Rather than retreating from net zero we need to rise to the challenge.

Britain has a history of engineering innovation and investment - let's apply the same spirit to meet the challenge of energy security. Read @chaitanyakumar.bsky.social's latest blog to find out how we can do it: neweconomics.org/2025/04/blam...

Extreme wealth threatens our shared future. But together, we can push back.

We want to equip campaigners, organisers and local leaders with the tools to challenge extreme wealth - in politics, media and the economy.

But we need your donations to power that work: donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...

Exactly. No one has a problem with basic bitch patriotism, they have problems with the policy

NESO did say 2025 would be the year when this could happen, back in 2019!! Amazing if it does. www.neso.energy/news/zero-ca...

Bond markets, doing what they do best, intimidate!

How do you solve a problem like inflation? The case for monetary-fiscal coordination

More on the why and how of monetary-fiscal coordination, in other words, treasuries and central banks working a bit more in tandem. 👇👇https://neweconomics.org/2025/03/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-inflation via @neweconomics.bsky.social

Gordon Brown calls for ‘economic coalition of the willing’ to tackle Trump tariffs Former PM says it is also the moment for the UK to go even further in renewing ties with the EU

Brown is right about one thing in this piece, we need greater coordination between monetary and fiscal institutions to buffet against the persistent shocks to the economy. Some Asian nations have done it for a while but orthodoxy is holding back economies here.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Nationalising British Steel wouldn’t be a bad idea The UK’s last remaining site of primary steel production is on the brink. British Steel, owned by the Chinese conglomerate Jingye Group, has warned it may soon close its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, ...

Some thoughts on the British Steel crisis that is playing out at the moment.... and why nationalising wouldn't be a bad idea.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/nation...

🚨The chancellor's spring statement has reinforced the austerity doom loop the country is stuck in.

Only by replacing the fiscal rules can we get out of this cycle of austerity and economic decline.

The Future with AI: Who’s in Control? Join NEON and NEF for a joint social and panel event on AI

If you are in East London this evening, come by to our event with @neweconomics.bsky.social and @neonuk.bsky.social on artificial intelligence and the Left. Drop by at Oxford House in Bethnal Green from 6:30. Details here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future....