Better late than never: Whitehall restructure gives hope that the government will tackle some of the underlying issues

By Scott Harker

It’s pretty hard to avoid the feeling that the UK is creaking. From cancelled trains and delayed treatments to sparsely populated supermarket shelves, the state of the nation in early 2023 is not a happy one. 

The causes of this are numerous and not the subject of this blog. The fragility of our underlying fabric, however, extends to our energy infrastructure. The government’s belated reforms to the Whitehall machinery could help to address this.  

The need for new sources of energy is well-known and appears to be on the way to being remedied. The country is set to gain a fleet of nuclear power stations, is benefitting from the wide rollout of offshore wind and has several new solar schemes in the pipeline. 

An element of this that receives less attention is the system that carries the electricity from station to socket. This is probably because, on the face of it, it seems a rather dull subject. Pylons and underground cables only bring excitement to a select few of us. It does, however, provide the bedrock for all the other elements of our energy infrastructure to sit on. 

It is this system that is struggling to keep up with the drive for new renewable energy sources. Developers are already citing delays in obtaining grid connections that will set projects back into the next decade. Regardless of the speed of construction, new sources of energy are only truly ready when they connect to the grid. 

The physical constraints (pylons, substations and cabling) are ones that National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) is working hard to remedy. The organisation has 16 projects in the pipeline just to support growing offshore wind generation.

Some have pointed out that the constraints extend to staffing and expertise. This places the challenge in a similar realm to other parts of the UK’s stuttering economy. A shortfall in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) qualifications has long been identified as a national challenge, but with increased restrictions on recruiting from abroad, the need to build up domestic expertise is even more important.

For all the vague talk of ‘supply side reforms’ and other buzz words, it’s gaps like this that slow the speed with which we approach our net zero target and generate economic growth. Sadly, prioritisation and investment by the government is neglected as the benefits are only likely to be felt outside of their five-year term of office. 

This week could however mark a shift. Rishi Sunak has inherited a large majority, appalling poll ratings and a party in fragments. 

His decision to split the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy into three new departments seems an odd move. The Prime Minister and his party have less than two years to bring about a dramatic change in their fortunes. The creation of new government departments is unlikely to yield much of a poll bounce. 

A standalone Department for Energy Security and Net Zero does give an indication of one of the (relatively) new Prime Minister’s priorities, he should now press ahead with chipping away at the long-term obstacles to growth rather than hoping for a big bang event.

If we are to accept the conventional wisdom, Sunak will not be Prime Minister for very long. He nevertheless has an opportunity to address some of the difficult and, dare I say it, boring problems that have left the country creaking. A Labour government will likely press ahead with meeting the challenge in the medium term but setting us on the right path may end up being the legacy that Sunak leaves behind.