Remember Insulate Britain? Those ‘eco-zealots’ cared about energy bills before Rishi Sunak

Insulation was treated as a marginal issue until Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine. Now, the right-wing press is applauding the chancellor for taking the tiniest of steps forward

Insulate Britain weren’t generations – or even decades – ahead of their time ( (Steve Parsons/PA))

Remember Insulate Britain? Remember those “eco-zealots” – as The Daily Mail called them – who called for an unprecedented effort to insulate our homes?

I know, it sounded like a crazy idea to me too. What kind of a “zealot” wants to cut our energy bills and fuel poverty, reduce our reliance on Russian gas, and help with the cost of living? How dare those “eco-terrorists” help this country become energy independent?

To be fair, Rishi Sunak did pay a bit of attention to the issue in his spring statement. He announced a cut in VAT for homeowners buying insulation. Truly, we are blessed to live in an age of such ambitious politicians. When your stomach has a huge, gaping wound, it’s great that the chancellor has a sticking plaster to hand.

But what did Insulate Britain actually want? Britain’s 29 million homes are among the oldest and least energy efficient stock in Europe, they point out. Every year, vast amounts of energy is wasted in heating our homes and buildings. They had just two demands: for the government to insulate all social housing by 2025, and set out a plan to insulate all British homes by 2030. Shocking eco-zealotry if I ever heard it.

Less than a week ago, there were murmurings in the press about the “shocking” rise in energy bills. It’s only shocking if you don’t know how people heat their homes. Perhaps there will be more shock in the coming years, when middle-class homes are regularly flooded or destroyed by more frequent, extreme climate events. Again, this is only shocking if you don’t understand what climate change means.

Insulate Britain weren’t generations – or even decades – ahead of their time. Maybe they were a few months ahead – at most. Insulation was treated as a marginal issue until Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine. Now, the right-wing press is applauding the chancellor for taking the tiniest of steps forward. Now that it’s finally affecting our pockets, we are paying attention.

Look, I get it. Middle England doesn’t like hippies blocking roads or stopping football matches. It’s inconvenient and annoying. I didn’t think Insulate Britain’s tactic of blocking roads – causing more pollution-spewing traffic jams – was the right approach either. But, as they point out, they would be criticised regardless. 

Last week, when 21-year-old Louis McKechnie tied his neck to a goal post during the Everton v Newcastle game, he was called a “nut” and an “eco-zealot” anyway. Climate activists will be branded as extremists regardless of what they do.

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But all this activism is going to feel very minor when the climate crisis spirals out of control, and we are hit by freak weather events every month. The price of food, energy and housing will spiral along with it.

The energy crisis will not go away because the price of fossil fuels is determined by international markets. If, tomorrow, Qatar or Australia – among the world’s largest producers of gas – face a crisis, our energy bills will shoot up again. Another conflict in the Middle East would raise the cost of petrol and diesel further.

In the face of multiple crises – Covid, Brexit and energy – the government prefers small fixes to real solutions. The focus is on garnering positive headlines – not on long-term change. As the RAC put it: “In reality, reducing [petrol duty] by 5p will only take prices back to where they were just over a week ago.” It’s like getting some chocolate to distract from your diabetes.

British homes need to be insulated. There is no getting away from this fact unless, magically, our energy costs fall to nearly nothing. We need to wean ourselves, as a country, off fossil fuels. There is no getting away from this fact either unless, magically, climate change stops being a problem.

You don’t have to like Insulate Britain’s tactics to accept they have an important point. They’re not “eco zealots” – they’re trying harder to solve our energy crisis than our chancellor is.