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LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Britain’s government on Monday sought to fend off pressure from some Conservative lawmakers to make it easier to build onshore wind farms, saying Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had backed projects that had local consent.
Sunak, in power for a month, has come under pressure from lawmakers in his own party on several issues, with some pushing for changes to the government’s leveling law currently in parliament aimed at reducing regional disparities in Britain.
Simon Clarke, leveling minister under Sunac’s predecessor Liz Truss, wants to make it easier to build more onshore wind farms where there is local consent, a move backed by Truss and former prime minister Boris Johnson.
Sunak had previously said he would focus on onshore wind, but on Monday, Trade Minister Grant Shapps said the prime minister supported building onshore wind farms with local consent.
“It’s not really a row. We’re all basically saying the same thing – if you’re going to get wind power off the coast you need local consent, because it can have a very big impact on the local environment,” Shepse told the Times. told the radio.
“What Simon Clarke has said as the proposer of this amendment, the Prime Minister has said.”
When asked if he or the government would now support Clark’s proposed change, or amendment to the law, Shaps said he had not studied it in detail.
Shapps’ remarks are aimed at sparking a possible rebellion in parliament against the government after the main opposition Labor Party indicated it could back the reforms put forward by Clarke. Some other Conservatives also support it.
Clarke denied he was leading a rebellion, saying he was trying to “change government policy for the better” and get rid of what he called “a de facto blanket ban on any new onshore sites coming forward”.
“I very much hope that the Prime Minister will find a way to allow this to happen, because I think it would be the right thing to do,” he told Times Radio.
Previous Conservative prime ministers supported a clampdown on new onshore wind farms, one of the cheapest forms of renewable power, but during his short tenure Truss said he would scrap planning restrictions.
A survey by YouGov earlier this year found that more than 70% of respondents supported the construction of a wind farm in their local area, while 17% were opposed.
Sunak’s government has been forced to delay a parliamentary vote on its housing plans to thwart another coup by some lawmakers, enthused by the ouster of three prime ministers in the past three and a half years.
With an election due in two years, some Conservatives are urging Sunak to take a bolder approach to try to win back voters increasingly disillusioned with politics and suggesting Labor will win easily.
Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Kylie McLellan; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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