In his Spring Statement, UK chancellor Rishi Sunak was under pressure to deal with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the wider energy price crisis. So, how did he do?
Despite the introduction of a handful of measures that he said would help to ease the situation for British people – including reduced taxes on vehicle fuel, home insulation and solar panel installation – the general feeling was that the chancellor “missed a chance to alleviate Britain's energy crisis”.
Prior to the announcement, there were calls to double down on low-carbon heat, renewable electricity and energy efficiency.
But Rishi Sunak was seemingly unprepared to commit to any sort of climate-first strategy, with “net-zero” mentioned just once in the 52-page Statement, and “climate” mentioned three times.