What has happened to our energy policy?
Daniel Dieppe, 27 October 2026
This is from the Civitas Autumn 2026 Newsletter. To subscribe, please click here.
Whether it be found in the bullish reindustrialisation blueprints of Burnham’s ‘Manchesterism’, basking in the bluish sunlit uplands of Badenochian ‘Kemistry’, or bellowing boldly from the roaring Reformists in Birmingham, there was one overwhelming Brobdingnagian crisis this year that echoed throughout the party conferences: energy prices imposing a major competitive disadvantage upon UK industry.
Only days before the party conference season, Civitas had already produced research providing a comprehensive international comparison of energy costs across 11 major manufacturing nations – assessing how the UK’s energy pricing affects industrial competitiveness.
It illustrated that UK industrial electricity costs are six times higher than China, four times higher than the US, and double those in France. Even compared with high cost European peers, UK electricity is 70–75 per cent more expensive than Germany and Italy.
The intriguing calculation from this research estimated what UK manufacturers would pay if charged foreign energy prices. At US prices, costs would fall from £16.6 bn to £5.2 bn, a 69 per cent saving; at Chinese prices, to £6.4 bn, a 61 per cent saving. Even Germany, the highest cost comparator, would reduce UK industry’s bill by 32 per cent.
In any case, with the Budget only weeks away, this is the greatest meta-question that continues to flummox a bewildered and costly Britain – on which all other questions (economic viability, growth, living standards, defence) have come to depend and that we are in search of a much-needed solution.
Jim McConalogue
Civitas CEO
Latest report: Renegotiating British Energy Policy
Renegotiating British Energy Policy provides a comprehensive international comparison of energy costs and generation systems across 11 major manufacturing nations – assessing how the UK’s energy pricing affects industrial competitiveness.
It finds that UK manufacturers paid £16.6 billion for energy in 2024, of which £11.7 billion was electricity and £3.3 billion was gas. As the report states, “The prices paid by manufacturers for both electricity and gas in the UK are significantly higher than in all the comparator countries.”
Commentary
- The Times: ‘Pursuit of net zero has failed to cut British energy bills’ (£)
- The Times Editorial: ‘Energy bills will rise again in October thanks to bad policies’ (£)
- The Telegraph: ‘Household energy bills to soar by £260 on net zero costs’ (£)
- Jeremy Warner in The Telegraph: ‘Don’t be naive – Britain cannot magic up growth’ (£)
- Ross Clark in The Spectator: ‘Net zero isn’t bringing down our energy bills’ (£)
- Joseph Dinnage in City AM: ‘Burnham will fail unless he pivots on net zero’
Renegotiating British Energy Policy is available to order in hard copy or can be downloaded for free on the Civitas website.
New report: Litigation Nation
In Litigation Nation, Danna Brown examines the current state of the UK class action and third-party litigation funding market, the industry’s rapid growth, and the critical gaps that forthcoming legislation must address.
The report outlines changes that should be made to third-party litigation funding, including a disclosure obligation to trace ultimate capital ownership to natural persons.
Commentary
- Civitas Video on X (Twitter): ‘Why is the UK at the epicentre of class action claims across Europe?’
- Jim McConalogue in The Critic: ‘Rethinking class action culture’
- The Telegraph: ‘Think tank says increasing number of cases are being bankrolled by third-party litigation funding’ (£)
- Legal Futures: ‘Think tank calls for regulation to fill litigation funding “gaps”’
Litigation Nation is available to order in hard copy or can be downloaded for free on the Civitas website.
Event Highlights
After the summer holidays, Civitas is back in the swing of hosting events.
In September, we were joined by Professor Philip Cunliffe of University College London to discuss ‘Islamism in the era of globalisation’. Cunliffe spoke about his research in American Affairs: ‘The Man Who Was Friday: Global Islamism after Unipolarity’.
We are looking forward to hosting exciting speakers, including new authors, MPs and others in the months to come!
If you would like to attend a future Civitas event, or receive all our latest reports by post, why not consider becoming a member of Civitas for just £100?
Speech: Policy right on the ground: The tension that exists at the heart of our school improvement
In this speech to the Knowledge Network and Civitas, Joshua Vallance – Vice Principal at Trinity Academy in Brixton – advocates for, and highlights the importance of, a knowledge-rich curriculum, while simultaneously acknowledging the problems faced by schools and teachers in implementing such a curriculum.
He speaks of his ambitions and hopes that educators can continue to drive positive change, helping improve the behaviour and academic performance of the most vulnerable children through growing and developing the knowledge-rich curriculum up and down the country.
Policy right on the ground can be downloaded for free on the Civitas website.
New essays: Rethinking Indefinite Leave to Remain & Combatting Cancel Culture
Civitas summer interns Edward Worman and Leonardo Fennell both published essays on important cultural matters for Civitas.
In Rethinking Indefinite Leave to Remain, Edward Worman argued that the route from asylum status to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) should be replaced with renewable temporary protection determined by genuine need. ‘The proposal is not to turn refugees away’, Worman contended, but that asylum seekers, ‘do not have an automatic right to convert that protection into citizenship’.
Read Edward Worman’s essay here
Leonardo Fennell argued that society needs ‘moral righteousness checked by humility’ in his essay, Combatting Cancel Culture. Looking beyond the landscape of current political debates, Fennell drew on the contrasting accounts of human nature offered by Saint Augustine and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Ultimately, he concludes that ‘cancel culture is a symptom of a culture starved of humility’.
Read Leonardo Fennell’s essay here
Quick Links
The Sunday Express published Civitas polling on the priority of public spending:
Esmé Partridge discussed how to transfer political and economic power in local communities to civil society in The Critic:
Tory MP Bernard Jenkin spoke about his Civitas report, Understanding the UK’s Transition to Warfighting Readiness, in the House of Commons:
- ‘There is no such national conversation about the existential threats to our freedom and democracy.’
Daniel Dieppe commented on the Government’s new consultation to expand equalities laws on the Civitas X (Twitter) account:
Civitas Summer Intern Will Hosking wrote about Renewing Classical Liberal Education in Conservative Home:
From the Civitas Archive…
Tomorrow is Another Country: What is Wrong with the UK’s Asylum Policy?
Myles Harris, January 2003
In this prescient book, Myles Harris identified the failures of our immigration policy and strongly supported repealing the Human Rights Act.
Visiting numerous hearings involving asylum seekers, Harris found that using fraud or deception to enter Britain did not invalidate a claim. Once settled, removal is easily resisted by claiming a violation of their right to family life.
Twenty-three years on, Harris’s book is as relevant as ever and makes for stark reading.
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