The politics of lifting the ban on subsidies for wind turbines

There are political reasons behind the Tories’ change of heart, Jon Stone explains

The move could help revive the sector that the government previous destroyed (AFP via Getty Images)

It would be a dramatic U-turn, even by the standards of this government, but it does look as though the Tory party will overturn its much-derided ban on subsidies for onshore wind power.

The change comes just four years after the policy, a Tory manifesto promise in 2015, was enacted. It seems strange that they’re doing it now, but zooming out, it’s more obvious why it’s long overdue.

The ban was originally brought in because of a perception in the party hierarchy that a certain section of voters didn’t like wind turbines ‘at the bottom of their gardens’.