Jacob Rees-Mogg entered into a heated debate last night with the founder of Ecotricity and Labour Party donor, Dale Vince, over Net Zero.
The eco-activist and the GB News host discussed a speech by Clare Coutinho, who is a Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, where she said that the UK can't move on Net Zero "before the technology is ready and that we only make 1 per cent of the emissions anyway so we've done our share of the heavy lifting."
Speaking about the statement, Vince said: "I thought it was big on the rhetoric and light on fact. The idea that technology is not here for it, for starters, is untrue.
"All of the technology we need for the green transition is with us now. The idea that it will cost us more to implement it is not true.
Jacob Rees-Mogg gave the energy the eco-activist a telling off
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"It's cheaper to go green than not. The OBR told us that a few months ago it'll cost twice as much to stick with fossil fuels as it will to transition to green energy.
"And the idea that we have central planning and prices dictated by the government is also untrue."
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Jacob pointed out: "Well, as you know perfectly well, green energy is more expensive because currently, it has to have hydrocarbon energy on standby.
"That means you have to capital cost of the carbon fuels to be ready, and you have to have the extra cost of starting up and running down the power station run on gas, which is much more expensive. There's huge cost created by green energy."
The eco-activist "disputed the claim" that green energy costs more causing Jacob to say: "Where do you attribute the cost of that then?"
Vince responded: "The coast is in the grid. It's real. It's not as big as it's made out to be, but it does not make the cost of renewable energy more than the cost of fossil fuels.
Vince said that "wind and the sun" generate the cheapest energy
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"The cheapest forms of energy we have available to us now are from the wind and the sun. And, I don't know if you're aware, but we spent £16 billion a year subsidising the fossil fuel industry. That's £500 per household."
Jacob fumed: "But that's nonsense. Where does that subsidy come from? Explain that subsidy."
Vince retorted: "This is a report by the IMF. Last year the UK spent 16 billion subsidising fossil fuels."
The host said: " This is simply untrue. This is an argument made by the green lobby with no evidence for it."
Jacob told him to return when he had read the research
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He later added: "Come back on and tell me where these subsidies are, because no one who's come on has been able to point to these subsidies for fossil fuels."
He told Vince: "You haven't read her speech, which you said was light on detail.
"So it's pretty pointless interviewing it if you haven't bothered to read it."
