Bright Blue responds to the keynote speech by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which includes the announcement of the phase out of the UK's remaining coal-fired power stations.

Bright Blue has for some time been pushing for an early, managed phase out of the UK’s remaining coal-fired power stations. These proposals are set out in Green and responsible conservatism, a report we published in July 2015 with a foreword from Lord Howard, the former leader of the Conservative Party.

Commenting, Associate Fellow of Bright Blue and author of Green and responsible conservatism, Ben Caldecott said:

"The UK closing coal quickly sends a major signal to the rest of the world in advance of the Paris climate change negotiations. The first industrialised country will become the first major economy to set out a managed phase out of coal. Coal fuelled our industrial revolution and development, but it is now too polluting, too unreliable, and too expensive. It is also preventing new investment in gas and clean energy, which is impacting our security of supply. The government is right to have made this a key plank of a new conservative energy policy."