Joan Walley says it’s time the government admitted that the fossil fuel industry gets a lot more help from UK taxpayers than appears on the balance sheet

Further evidence that Britain leads the EU in giving subsidies to fossil fuels (Report, 24 January) highlights yet again the urgency of rebalancing UK energy subsidies.

Back in 2013-14 the environmental audit select committee found that “energy subsidies in the UK are running at about £12bn a year, much directed at fossil fuels”. It concluded that “the absence of any internationally agreed definition of what constitutes energy subsidy has provided a way for the government to reject – erroneously in our view – the proposition in some areas that it provides energy subsidies”.

Our subsequent recommendations set out a clear way forward for much needed transparency and a public debate on the rationale and justifications for energy subsidies in the UK.

Five years on, instead of continuing to deny fossil fuel subsidy, the government could usefully revisit our measured report and recognise that the majority of subsidies are off-budget – externalities that do not appear in national accounts as government expenditure. The time for action is long overdue.

Joan Walley

Chair, environmental audit select committee 2010-15

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