Letter to the Editor – Skills

Dear Editor

Lacking the necessary skills

Due to the standard and calibre of successive UK Governments, it is little wonder our energy bills are going through the roof, coupled with the possibility of power cuts this winter, and that energy strategy over the years truly appears to have been formulated at the Mad Hatter’s tea party. It is exasperating the answer is so simple and fundamental in that, our political representatives lack the necessary education, skill and industrial experience! Most worryingly, it is just not MPs but Cabinet Members and the Civil Service who lack in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees. It has recently been reported in the media that less than ten per cent of graduates entering the Fast Track Civil Service scheme have STEM backgrounds. It appears that Whitehall is dominated by historians and economists, few of whom have worked outside the official and political bubble. It is very sobering, dear reader, to acknowledge that without the scientific and engineering knowledge it is difficult to even frame the right questions, let alone developing a sensible energy strategy. Lest we forget: Amber Rudd, the Conservative MP for Hastings and Rye, was parliamentary under secretary of state for energy and climate change 2014-15, before serving as secretary of state for energy and climate change 2015-16 – Amber Rudd read History at Edinburgh University; Labour Leader Ed Miliband (2010), read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, circa 1989; Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020, served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 to 2015 and read Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1988 at Jesus College, Oxford. No doubt ‘Alice’ would opine, “Is it surprising that with such lack of the necessary nous UK energy is in such a sorry state!”

Dave Haskell

Brithdir

Cardigan

SA43 1ER

Tel: 01239 614671