The Guardian view on the Tory energy rebellion: get rid of the onshore wind ban

The lesson from the parable of onshore wind is that Rishi Sunak lacks authority, credibility or identifiable policies in key areas. He appears to have few core beliefs that he is willing to stand up for, and looks increasingly vulnerable to determined groups of rebels on his own backbenches. By backing down over an effective ban on land-based windmills, he has U-turned twice in less than a week on the levelling up and regeneration bill. Last Tuesday’s volte-face came after dozens of Tory MPs threatened to defy him over housebuilding targets. His reversal over wind power on Monday came after his predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss united against him.

The block on building land-based windfarms in England is absurd. Wind is bringing down the cost of bills as UK households face the biggest cost of living rise in a generation. It helps reduce carbon emissions and dependence on foreign energy imports. Polling suggests onshore wind turbines to be popular with the general public – with no loss in support from those living close to the whoosh of the blade. Yet during the Tory leadership election campaign in the summer, which he lost to Ms Truss, Mr Sunak pledged to keep the ban on onshore windfarms because of the “distress and disruption” they could cause to local residents. Mr Sunak’s policy then was about telling the mostly elderly, southern, male Tory party members what they wanted to hear. YouGov in July suggested only 4% of them thought net zero should be a priority.

Once in office, and facing a revolt of cabinet ministers as well as backbenchers, Mr Sunak has decided to relax the ban – but not by much. The prime minister seems likely to install a restrictive planning regime that risks blocking green energy developments and keeping bills high. The onshore windfarm ban survives somewhat intact because of the vexed politics of the English right. Conservative activists and Tory MPs are concerned about being outflanked by rightwing populists who trade in climate denialism and are attached to a turbine-free landscape. This anxiety is heightened by reports that Nigel Farage, who is agitating for a referendum on net zero, is eyeing up a return to frontline politics.

With Mr Sunak in charge, Britain ends up in hock to his party’s worst instincts. Labour’s Ed Miliband is right to call for the scrapping of the onshore wind ban completely. The country has suffered because successive Conservative governments have “cut the green crap” over the past decade. An analysis by Carbon Brief shows that almost all of the energy requirement from the UK’s net import of Russian gas in 2021 could have been met if the country had continued to add land-based wind turbines at historical rates. The problem with Mr Sunak is that he does not have an agenda that chimes with British public opinion. The prime minister’s strategy is to muddle through and hope for the best. Britain is in the midst of multiple crises. Mr Sunak has only been in Downing Street for a month but he has already exposed how that approach has reached its limits at the heart of government.