Craig Mackinlay

Credentials

Background

Craig Mackinlay was been the Conservative MP for South Thanet between 2015-2024,5โ€œMPs and Lords; South Thanet – 2015 General Election,โ€ UK Parliament. Archived December 7, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/IRlrg and was awarded a peerage in July 2024.6Kate Whannel. “Theresa May and ‘bionic’ MP awarded peerages,” BBC News, July 4, 2024. Archived July 5, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/G1Lv0

Mackinlay was one of the founders of the Anti-Federalist Party, which later became the UK Independence Party (UKIP), serving as the leader of UKIP in 1997 and as deputy leader from 1997 to 2000. Macklinay joined the Conservative Party in 2005.7โ€œAbout Craig,โ€ Craig Mackinlay MP. Archived October 28, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/mwXNl 8โ€œEx-UKIP leader to stand as Tory MP for Thanet South,โ€ BBC News. Archived January 21, 2019. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/zgHjQ 

Mackinlay has become a leading critic of the governmentโ€™s plans to decarbonise the economy and reach net zero emissions by 2050. Macklinay leads the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, a loose alliance of MPs which was set up by former Tory MP and former Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) Trustee Steve Baker.9Anushka Asthana. โ€œTory backbenchers prepare to fight cost of net zero greenhouse gas emissions,โ€ itv News, July 31, 2021. Archived September 17, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/9Y2rQ 10Isabel Hardman. โ€œGreen issues expose Tory division and loner Boris Johnsonโ€™s distance from his party,โ€ The Guardian, August 15, 2021. Archived December 7, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/f6wIn 

Mackinlay has indicated that the Net Zero Scrutiny Group will use research and publications from the GWPF to inform its discussions about net zero policies in the UK.11Jess Shankleman and Alex Morales. โ€œBoris Johnsonโ€™s Ambition for Climate Deal Hit by Tory Party Infighting,โ€ Bloomberg, August 5, 2021. Archived August 5, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/gyeWY 

Since 2020, Mackinlay has chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and Hauliers.12โ€œRegister Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups [as at 16 December 2020]: Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers,โ€ UK Parliament. Archived November 1, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ydJrx Mackinlay is the registered contact for the group as of June 2023, and the public enquiry point is listed as Howard Cox, founder of motoring lobby group Fair Fuel UK.13Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups,” UK Parliament, June 28, 2023. Archived June 28, 2023. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. Fair Fuel UK is a vocal opponent of fuel duty increases, the governmentโ€™s 2030 ban on petrol and diesel vehicles, and emissions charging schemes designed to cut air pollution.

According to his website, Mackinlay was a founding member of Conservatives for Britain, a campaign organisation formed just after the General Election of 2015 to lobby for a referendum on the UKโ€™s membership of the European Union. During the 2016 EU referendum, Mackinlay campaigned for Brexit and was a member of the Exiting the EU Select Committee in the 2015-2017 and 2017-2019 Parliaments. In the 2015-2017 Parliament, he was also a member of the European Scrutiny Select Committee and the Work and Pensions Select Committee.14โ€œAbout Craig,โ€ Craig Mackinlay MP. Archived October 28, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/mwXNl 

According to his website, Mackinlay wants Manston Airport in his South Thanet constituency to become a โ€œfreight hub with passenger & high value engineering servicesโ€.15โ€œMy plan for South Thanet,โ€ Craig Mackinlay MP. Archived November 4, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/S47qm In 2019, Mackinlay was found to have breached House of Commons rules due to a potential financial interest by calling for the unused Manston airport to be โ€œresurrectedโ€ during Commons debates. Mackinlay had failed to declare his role as a director of Mama Airlines Ltd, founded in 2001, which Mackinlay had founded with the intention of running a โ€œlow-costโ€ airline from Manston to Malaga.16Tom Barnes. โ€œTory MP breaches Commons rules by calling to reopen airport from which he had wanted to run his own airline,โ€ The Independent, June 17, 2018. Archived November 9, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/yW850

Before beginning his political career, Mackinlay worked at a firm of chartered accountants and qualified as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He also qualified as a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.17โ€œAbout Craig,โ€ Craig Mackinlay MP. Archived October 28, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/mwXNl

Stance on Climate Change

August 6, 2021

In an article by The Times about alleged tensions within the UK Cabinet on climate policy, Mackinlay was quoted saying:

โ€œI am not a climate-change denier. Iโ€™m concerned that our electors of the future will be huddling round their heat-pump radiators and paying off the debt on an electric vehicle they never wanted either as they look wistfully at China, Indonesia and other nations still enjoying cheap energy from some of the dirtiest fossil fuels.โ€18Steven Swinford, Oliver Wright, Matt Dathan. โ€œCabinet tensions heat up the road to Cop26,โ€ The Times, August 14, 2021. Archived August 14, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/gGOJM

Key Quotes

August 9, 2024

When asked whether he would continue the Net Zero Scrutiny Group project in an interview with GB News, Mackinlay signalled his intent to do so. He said:19Dominic Penna. “People are rioting over the state of Britain โ€“ not Southport, says Tory peer,” The Telegraph, August 9, 2024. Archived August 14, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/eNaKW

“The Net Zero Scrutiny Group will continue. We had a number of peers in it before. I intend it to continue โ€“ and perhaps even stand it up with some external funding โ€“ if we can fund it as a proper group, to actually tell the story to new parliamentarians about why the current thinking is so woolly and so wrong and so costly, and thereโ€™s a better way of doing this.โ€

July 4, 2024

In a BBC report detailing that Mackinlay was awarded a peerage, he is quoted as saying he was “overwhelmed at being elevated” to the Lords, saying it would give him “a platform to campaign for sepsis, limb loss and for appropriate prosthetics (as well as sensible net zero). The Bionic MP changes into the Bionic Lord.””20Kate Whannel. “Theresa May and ‘bionic’ MP awarded peerages,” BBC News, July 4, 2024. Archived July 5, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/G1Lv0

November 26, 2022

In a Daily Telegraph article titled โ€œExclusive: The town where boilers will be ripped out for net zero trialโ€ about a controversial trial to use hydrogen for home heating, Mackinlay commented:

โ€œAs ever, with so much nonsense weโ€™re seeing across the path to net zero, the CO2 balance sheet is often worse than what it is attempting to replace.โ€21Emma Gatten. โ€œExclusive: The town where boilers will be ripped out for net zero trial,โ€ The Telegraph, November 26, 2022. Archived November 26, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.is/vnUO1

October 19, 2022

During a parliamentary debate about fracking, Mackinlay said:

โ€œWe are in the depths of an energy crisisโ€ฆ And here we are speaking about trying to ban a source of domestic energy, while we are short of it. And we wonder why people out there think we are stark, staring mad.โ€22Net Zero Watch. โ€œWe are in the depths of an energy crisisโ€ฆ And here we are speaking about trying to ban a source of domestic energy, while we are short of it. And we wonder why people out there think we are stark, staring mad,โ€ October 19, 2022. Tweet by @NetZeroWatch. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived January 23, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.is/qCMZQ

Net Zero Watch – the campaigning arm of the Global Warming Policy Foundation – tweeted the video, with the caption โ€œSpot on from @cmackinlayโ€ along with the hashtag: โ€œ#CostOfNetZeroโ€.

July 27, 2022

In an Express article which revealed that only a small proportion of households applied to a government scheme to incentivise heat pump installation, Mackinlay was quoted saying that the scheme โ€œattempts to force consumers into adopting technologies which they simply don’t want, are expensive and donโ€™t work very well”.23Jack Walters. โ€œ‘Money wasted’ Brits snub ยฃ450m fund to install heat pumps in net zero push – ‘Inadequate’โ€, Express, July 27, 2022. Archived July 27, 2022. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/P8349

“The Government urgently needs to develop a market-friendly approach to decarbonisation which focuses on developing technologies people would choose to use without compulsion.โ€

July 16, 2022

In an op-ed for the Express, Mackinlay argued for โ€œa concrete plan that sets us free from the rigid pursuit of Net Zeroโ€ as a way of dealing with the UKโ€™s energy crisis.24Craig Mackinlay. โ€œNet Zero – the ยฃ3 trillion black hole in the Conservative leadership electionโ€, Express, July 16, 2022. Archived July 16, 2022. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/5e322

He wrote: โ€œThe reality is that building more wind turbines and devoting arable land to solar is not going to provide us with the reliable energy we need. The combination of the coal phase out and a failure to invest in nuclear has left us critically exposed to the price of gas.โ€ He also called the moratorium on shale gas extraction (also known as fracking) โ€œsenselessโ€.

May 30, 2022

Mackinlay submitted a written question asking UK Energy Minister, Greg Hands, to ease fracking regulations, calling on him to โ€œpublish the criteria for revising the seismicity limits that apply to shale extractionโ€. Earlier in the month, he asked Hands to โ€œpublish the criteria for lifting the moratorium on shale gas extractionโ€.25Ruth Hayhurst. โ€œWhat would it take to relax fracking rules? – Tory backbencher asks ministerโ€, Drill or drop?, May 31, 2022. Archived May 31, 2022. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/oQTGR

May 14, 2022

A group of Conservative party backbenchers, including Mackinlay, Steve Baker, and Lord David Frost, submitted an open letter to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng arguing that โ€œthe risks associated with fracking are minimalโ€.26Edward Malnick. โ€œFracking review โ€˜will undermine trust if risk mitigation factors ignoredโ€™โ€, Telegraph, May 14, 2022. Archived August 30, 2022. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/kRUP3

The letter also claimed that a review of fracking will โ€œjeopardise public trust in democracy and Governmentโ€™s ability to handle scientific adviceโ€ if it does not include evidence that the risks associated with fracking can be โ€œmanaged and mitigatedโ€.

May 2, 2022

MacKinlay referred to net zero policies as โ€œthe Net Zero con-trickโ€ in a GB News article titled โ€œWind farms earn hundreds of millions more from energy crisis after delaying Government subsidy contractโ€. He also criticised โ€œthe false promise of cheap renewable energyโ€.27Craig MacKinlay. โ€œWind farms earn hundreds of millions more from energy crisis after delaying Government subsidy contractโ€, GB News, May 2, 2022. Archived May 2, 2022. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/9qKJn

April 28, 2022

Mackinlay wrote an op-ed for Politics Home in which he warned that โ€œbeing an early mover into new green technologies could come with wasteful costs and plenty of regretsโ€. He also argued that โ€œParliament also needs to properly recognise the seriousness and scope of the changes it is asking people to make on the road to net-zeroโ€.28Craig Mackinlay. โ€œParliament must consider the impact of net zero policies on people’s lifestylesโ€, Politics Home, April 28, 2022. Archived April 28, 2022. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/DhUzQ

Referring to the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, he concluded: โ€œI had no doubt when I set up this group that it would be controversial: […] but it is a sad reflection of how polarised the debate has become, with anyone questioning the plan deemed a ‘climate change denier’โ€.

April 4, 2022

Mackinlay wrote an article for Conservative Home titled โ€œHow to gain popular consent for frackingโ€. He argued that โ€œwe have been deluged with a tidal wave of misinformationโ€ on fracking and that โ€œstrange myths around the technology persistโ€ which โ€œmay have been promoted by Russian propaganda outletsโ€.29Craig Mackinlay. โ€œHow to gain popular consent for frackingโ€, Conservative Home, April 4, 2022. Archived August 24, 2022. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/QVN79 

He continued: โ€œIf people are only hearing one side of the story โ€“ that being the bogus narrative pushed by extreme environmentalist protestors โ€“ then we should not simply accept that, but challenge and refute it.โ€

February 28, 2022

In an opinion piece for the Isle of Thanet News in the immediate aftermath of Russiaโ€™s invasion of Ukraine, Mackinlay wrote: โ€œIt is not for nothing that I have been writing for months about the failures of UK and Europeโ€™s energy policy and why I started up the new Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs. We must frack for gas, we must dash to new nuclear and if that means a sensible re-appraisal of the path to Net Zero with an arbitrary date of 2050, then so be it. Blame Vladimir Putin.โ€30Craig Mackinlay. โ€œOpinion with South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay: The reality on the ground in Ukraineโ€, Isle of Thanet News, February 28, 2022. Archived February 28, 2022. Archive.ph URL: https://archive.ph/zwHVX

February 1, 2022

Speaking to The Telegraph about the government’s decision not to eliminate as many EU regulations retained post-Brexit because the plan did not “fit in with Mr Johnsonโ€™s ambitions to cut Britainโ€™s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050,” Mackinlay said: โ€œNet Zero will take this government down, I can tell you that.”31Joe Barnes and James Crisp. “Boris Johnson scraps Brexit bonfire of EU red tape in favour of net zero rules,” The Telegraph, February 1, 2022. Archived February 1, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/r8sw5

He continued:

โ€œTo think we left the bureaucratic morass of the EU to adopt another one [in net zero] is both shocking and very disappointing. We had an abstract, slight bit of influence in the EU โ€“ but we seem to have no influence against the environmental blob which seems to have taken over Whitehall and Downing Street.โ€

January 24, 2022

Mackinlay wrote an op-ed for The Times which claimed that renewable energy sources “cause[d] the doubling of electricity prices between 2002 and 2021” and argued that renewables were at least partly to blame for the UK’s gas crisis.32Craig Mackinlay. “Why back ourselves into an expensive energy corner?” The Times, January 24, 2022. Archived January 27, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/HYmjD

Regarding the gas crisis, Mackinlay wrote:

“The problem is โ€“ as usual โ€“ politics. With much of their publics gripped by a quasi-religious belief in imminent climate catastrophe, politicians have simply acceded to the demands of the green lobby, and instituted bans and moratoriums across the continent. Is it any wonder that prices have gone up?”

Mackinlay also wrote that investing in and “deploying renewables simply locks us into a high-cost future,” and that taxpayers will have to pay the costs “either directly or through general taxation substitution.”

He concluded:

“Fossil fuel prices can go lower โ€“ much lower โ€“ as they have been for most of the last century. A renewables powered future, on the other hand, would lock the public into electricity prices commensurate to those that are causing such pain and anguish today but into perpetuity.”

October 23, 2021

Speaking on GB News during a segment titled โ€œThe cost of net zeroโ€, Macklinay claimed that achieving net zero emissions is โ€œvery, very expensive.โ€ Mackinlay also said that plans to move to net zero are โ€œall reliant on electricity,โ€ and that the UK had โ€œbungled policy for power for probably a whole generationโ€.33โ€œTory MP Crash Mackinlay on ‘bungled’ Net Zero ambitions,โ€ YouTube video uploaded by user GBNews, October 23, 2021. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. 

He also spoke about air source heat pumps, saying they were about four times the price of a โ€œnice, reliable gas boilerโ€ and that despite installing a heat pump, consumers could โ€œfind [themselves] saddled with higher billsโ€. He also claimed that households would have to pay more than ยฃ30,000 for the transition to net zero. 

Mackinlay also said: โ€œOf course I want a greener future, of course I do. I want to leave this planet in a better place than we found it,โ€ and stated that COP26 should focus on reducing single use plastic, protecting ocean biodiversity, and planting forests.

September 20, 2021

In a piece from the Mail Online about the UKโ€™s energy shortage, Mackinlay was quoted saying: โ€œThe transition to Net Zero is going to be over a long period of time. Fossil fuels will be part of the mix for a long period of time. So it makes sense to be as domestically secure as we possibly can.โ€34James Tapsfield, David Wilcock. โ€œNo10 dismisses pleas from Tory MPs and energy firms to scrap ‘green levies’ that can make up a QUARTER of household bills to avoid gas crisis triggering wave of ‘fuel poverty’ this winter,โ€ MailOnline, September 20, 2021. Archived October 31, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/hJDut

Key Actions

July 4, 2024

Mackinlay announced he would not stand for re-election in the July 2024 general election, following a bout of sepsis led to amputation of his hands and feet.35Faye Brown. “‘Bionic MP’ Craig Mackinlay says he won’t contest his seat at general election,” Sky News, May 24, 2024. Archived May 25, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.is/8PmOb

He said:

“Whilst my heart tells me to stand again, there being so much unfinished business across local regeneration and national issues which are important to me, my head knows this to be impossible at this time. It would be difficult to withstand the rigours of an all-out election campaign, a campaign that I’d always wish to lead from the front. Thereafter, upon being re-elected it would be difficult for me to sustain 70 to 80-hour working weeks which were the norm prior to my illness.”

June 25, 2023

Mackinlay and two other MPs affiliated with the Net Zero Scrutiny Group – Greg Smith and Andrew Lewer – said it was “unfair” for UK households to pay a ยฃ170 yearly green levy on energy bills, after the government announced it would no longer cover the cost of the Energy Price Guarantee as of July 2023.36Amy Gibbons. “Rishi Sunak faces backlash over โ€˜punishingโ€™ net zero levy,” The Telegraph, June 25, 2023. Archived June 26, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/RJD7T

Mackinlay said that it was the “wrong time to add costs” to households in light of the cost of living and energy crises, “especially for net zero measures that the public increasingly despise”.

The EPG, announced during Liz Truss’s tenure as prime minister, covered the cost of the green levies and was designed to “reduce the extent of [energy] price increases for domestic customers”.37UK Parliament. “Gas and electricity prices under the Energy Price Guarantee and beyond,” House of Commons Library, May 25, 2023. Archived June 3, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pv7zI

May 30, 2023

Mackinlay said Labour’s plans to block all new oil and gas developments in the UK North Sea were “incoherent”, adding that gas is “the flexible backbone of electricity generation and home heating, with oil the mainstay of motive power and industrial processes”.38Pressure mounts on Keir Starmer for U-turn on North Sea oil and gas,” Aberdeen Business News, May 30, 2023. Archived June 28, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/X9zMq

A source for the Labour Party told the Guardian the party is “against the granting of new licences for oil and gas in the North Sea”, but would “continue to use existing oil and gas wells over the coming decades and manage them sustainablyโ€. The ban on new North Sea oil and gas licenses would not affect projects that had previously been approved, with the exception of two projects Labour said it would block: the Rosebank and Cambo fields.39Peter Walker. “Labour confirms plans to block all new North Sea oil and gas projects,” The Guardian, May 28, 2023. Archived June 21, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/WAP5h

Mackinlay said Labour’s ban on new licenses would force the UK to import more oil and gas from abroad, adding:40Pressure mounts on Keir Starmer for U-turn on North Sea oil and gas,” Aberdeen Business News, May 30, 2023. Archived June 28, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/X9zMq

โ€œLabourโ€™s plans to import more will simply enrich foreign treasuries and increase CO2 output, such is the flawed model of international LNG shipments.

โ€œWhen politicians follow flawed ideology the result is usually 180 degrees away from what common sense would dictate. These plans are truly dangerous.โ€

May 18, 2023

Mackinlay told the Telegraph he was opposed to the UK’s โ€œsocialist energy agendaโ€, speaking with regard to a ยฃ120-a-year levy on consumer energy bills that would support the development of hydrogen gas as part of the governmentโ€™s net zero plans.41Emma Gatten and Nick Gutteridge. “Net zero could push energy bills up by ยฃ120 a year,The Telegraph, May 18, 2023. Archived June 19, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/LyW8X

March 7, 2023

Mackinlay tweeted a picture of himself reading a “newspaper” produced by fuel lobbying group FairFuel UK, writing that it was a “great read” about ULEZ, “crackpot #LTN schemes”, and the “cost & environmental scandal” of electric vehicles.42Craig Mackinlay. “Good to receive @HowardCCox #FairFuelUK newspaper demanding cut to fuel duty, pump price rip-off, #ULEZ & crackpot #LTN schemes, the cost & environmental scandal of #EVs. #Stopthe2030 #ICE ban and much more. Great read!,” tweet from user @cmackinlay, March 7, 2023. Retrieved from twitter.com. Archived June 28, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/NWTfv

November 26, 2022

Speaking to the Telegraph about a trial that would replace gas boilers in the town of Ellesmere Port with hydrogen boilers, Mackinlay called the scheme “greenwash” and raised concerns about the infrastructure, costs, safety and supply of hydrogen fuel.43Emma Gatten. “Exclusive: The town where boilers will be ripped out for net zero trial,” The Telegraph, November 26, 2022. Archived March 29, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/vnUO1

He added: โ€œAs ever, with so much nonsense weโ€™re seeing across the path to net zero, the CO2 balance sheet is often worse than what it is attempting to replace.โ€

February 16, 2022

DeSmog revealed that Mackinlay employed two Parliamentary aides with links to the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF): Harry Wilkinson, head of policy at the GWPF; and Ruth Lea, a trustee of the GWPF from 2019 to 2021. Mackinlay confirmed that Lea had had a parliamentary pass through association with his office since 2016.

When asked about Lea, Mackinlay told POLITICO: “She has never been paid and has assisted me primarily across Brexit, Treasury and economic issues throughout as she continues to do.โ€44Esther Webber and Karl Mathisen. “Tory MP hires staff linked to climate denial group,” POLITICO, February 16, 2022. Archived February 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/zW8RE

He added that her work with Net Zero Watch โ€œwas wholly unconnected to her original appointment with me and is not related to her continuation as a passholder now. She is largely retired these days and she comes to parliament infrequently.โ€

Regarding Wilkinsonโ€™s continuing employment with Net Zero Watch, Mackinlay said that Wilkinson’s roles are โ€œfully disclosed according to parliamentary rules applying to MPsโ€™ employees and his depth of knowledge acquired there is invaluable to my interest and work on net zero issues.”

February 10, 2022

Mackinlay wrote an article for The Critic titled “Green energy cannot save us,” in which he argued that the government’s “determination to push through Net Zero policies without adequate consideration of their implications could do even more damage to the Government than Partygate”. 45Craig Mackinlay. “Green energy cannot save us,” The Critic, February 10, 2022. Archived February 10, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/1XUMD

He also claimed that “it would take extreme propaganda to blame free markets and low taxes [for the energy crisis] when we have had extensive state planning, high taxes, subsidies and misleading claims about the costs of renewables”.

Mackinlay also wrote that calls for a quicker transition away from gas as a main energy source in the UK have come “habitually from people who would have said this whatever else was happening in the world” and that such a transition “may be a solution for decades ahead once technology evolves, but the problem we have is now”.

He concluded:

“We must be able to use our own natural gas supplies, which are right under our feet as well as out to sea. Using our own gas will bring investment, jobs, a good helping of taxes and reduce emissions compared to imported gas, which often comes with geopolitical strings attached. To say that we ought not to try because it might not make that much of a difference to prices is utterly defeatist, neglecting the experience of the USA. Itโ€™s for businesses to experiment in the marketplace and not for the government to arbitrarily cancel industries and manage prices based on a hunch that may prove to be wrong.”

February 6, 2022

In an op-ed for the Telegraph about the UK’s gas crisis, Mackinlay wrote that “the wholesale decarbonisation of the economy โ€“ so called โ€˜Net Zeroโ€™” was having “disastrous implications for the cost of living”. He also claimed that the UK’s moratorium on fracking and “a broad refusal, with limited exceptions, to unlock North Sea reserves” were partly responsible for the gas crisis and cost of living crisis.46Craig Mackinlay. “A Conservative free-market approach is the solution to our energy woes,” The Telegraph, February 6, 2022. Archived February 6, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XTESv

Mackinlay also wrote that the Climate Change Committee (CCC) had provided “poor-quality advice” about the cost of the transition to net zero and claimed that in the view of the current government, “nothing must be allowed to get in the way of decarbonisation efforts, and anyone who questions this must be some sort of climate โ€˜denierโ€™.”

He also argued that the UK should “make use of the extraordinary natural resources that we have under our feet and out to sea” and end the “incoherent shale gas moratorium,” which he claimed could create “74,000 skilled jobs in the Red Wall”.

February 6, 2022

In a Telegraph article about concerns that the current energy efficiency rating system for homes, Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rules, could mean that installing a heat pump lowers the value of a property, Mackinlay claimed that heat pumps “can actually increase energy use” and that installing and using one “could push a property that might have been rated C under an old method into D”.47Tom Rees and Tony Diver. “Homes risk energy rating downgrade if they install a heat pump,” The Telegraph, February 6, 2022. Archived February 6, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Ge6dL

The article noted that although heat pumps produce less carbon dioxide (CO2) than burning gas for energy, “the way that the ratings are currently estimated means that replacing a traditional gas boiler with a heat pump can lower a home’s energy efficiency rating.”

An October 2021 Telegraph article reported that heat pumps “produce around three times the energy they use, making them much more efficient than a gas boiler”.48Gareth Davies. “Low carbon heat pumps: Everything you need to know from cost to efficiency,” The Telegraph, October 20, 2021. Archived February 3, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/km5pA

February 4, 2022

Speaking to PoliticsHome about a support package announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help ease the cost of living crisis, Mackinlay reportedly cautioned against provisions in the package to support the renewable energy sector because “this whole dash to renewables isnโ€™t really working”.49Kate Proctor. “Rishi Sunak Urged To Drop Green Levy To Ease The Cost Of Living Crisis,” PoliticsHome, February 4, 2022. Archived February 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/R3lrP

Mackinlay also said that the government should focus on developing its domestic energy supply, especially from nuclear and gas, arguing:

โ€œWe have been blessed in this country with very large gas reserves. Why on earth would you be importing gas which everybody accepts has to be part of the energy mix, no matter if youโ€™re fully onto net zero or not. We have those reserves, for heavens sake letโ€™s use them.”

November 17, 2021

Mackinlay spoke to NTD UK News about the recent launch of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, which would push for more critical discussion on government policies to reach net zero carbon emissions. When asked how many were involved in the group, he said it was “sort of growing north of 50 and growing by the day”.50โ€œNTD UK News Full Broadcast,โ€ NTD UK News, November 17, 2021. Archived December 6, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/o35b2

He told the channel: โ€œItโ€™s quite surprising about how many MPs that I wouldnโ€™t have considered particularly interested in these things are now tapping me on the shoulder and saying, you know what, we need to have a decent discussion on this within the party, because this is not electorally good for us.โ€

Mackinlay also said: โ€œWe shouldnโ€™t be demonising gas. Gas is a far more efficient way, much smaller CO2 footprint to create energy than coal.โ€

The following day, a clip of the video was posted by Net Zero Watch, the new name for the Global Warming Policy Forum, the campaigning wing of the UKโ€™s most prominent climate science denial group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation.51โ€˜”It’s surprising how many MPs are now tapping me on the shoulder to say, we’ve got to have a decent discussion about [Net Zero] within the party. It’s not electorally good for us. Economically, it’s a disaster zone. We should be looking at another way” @cmackinlay #CostOfNetZero,โ€™ Tweet by @NetZeroWatch, November 18, 2021. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog. 

October 23, 2021

Mackinlay was quoted in a Telegraph article questioning the net zero pathway laid out by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), specifically that the CCCโ€™s target โ€œrelies on a rise in windy days,โ€ as saying: “These predictions appear somewhat fanciful. The Climate Change Committee seem to be looking at the whole project through rose-tinted spectacles to try and minimalise the unpalatable costs of this whole enterprise.”52Edward Malnick. โ€œNet Zero target relies on rise in windy days,โ€ The Telegraph, October 23, 2021. Archived October 29, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/YSthy

The data underlying the report was obtained through a tribunal case brought by Andrew Montford, deputy director of the GWPF, after the climate sceptic group had argued that the CCC had not been transparent about its calculations for the cost of the net zero transition.53David Rose. โ€œTell us the true cost of saving the planet: Judge orders quango to back up claim of ‘only’ 1% of GDP to hit net zero,โ€ The Daily Mail, August 6, 2021. Archived August 6, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dWg1Y The analysis reported on in the article was conducted by the free-market Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), which recently claimed that the โ€œquality of the CCCโ€s advice is questionableโ€.54Victoria Hewson. โ€œHot Air: A Critique of the UKโ€™s Climate Change Committee,โ€ Institute of Economic Affairs, October 2021. Archived October 24, 2021. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

October 20, 2021

Mackinlay told LBCโ€™s Iain Dale that the cost of the net zero transition, specifically retrofitting households to be more energy efficient, is โ€œtruly colossalโ€ and that it will cost โ€œover ยฃ30,000 per householdโ€.55Seรกn Hickey. โ€œTory MP: Governmentโ€™s net zero plan โ€˜the stuff of madnessโ€™โ€, LBC, October 19, 2021. Archived October 25, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/me4p5

October 19, 2021

Mackinlay was quoted in a Daily Mail article stating that โ€œBorisโ€™s ยฃ1TRILLION green dreamโ€ will have a negative financial impact on Britons, describing the government’s net zero plans as a โ€œlargely uncosted wish listโ€, adding that he was โ€œmost uncomfortable for the lower paid who will bear the cost of much of this greenwash in higher bills and taxes whilst the wealthier will bank their contribution towards their five figure heat pump.โ€56Jason Groves, Claire Ellicott, James Tapsfield. โ€œHow Boris’s ยฃ1TRILLION green dream could hit YOU: Britons face MORE taxes, a 50% hike on their heating bills, paying ยฃ10k or more for a heat pump, up to ยฃ9k a wall for insulation – and owners of inefficient homes may struggle to get a mortgageโ€, The Daily Mail, October 20, 2021. Archived November 5, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/1SVyf

Mackinlay also said that the UK is โ€œon a path to bankruptcy with multi-trillion pound dreamsโ€ as โ€œbig global emitters of CO2 pay lip service to net zeroโ€.  

September 10, 2021

Mackinlay wrote an article for The Critic titled โ€œDid the PM tell the truth about Net Zero?โ€, published after Mackinlay asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the cost of the governmentโ€™s proposed pathway to net zero emissions. In it, he wrote that the UKโ€™s decarbonisation policies must be โ€œboth affordable and technologically feasibleโ€ and claimed that โ€œrenewable energy in Britain has not, as the Prime Minister suggests, been getting cheaperโ€, adding that โ€œaudited accounts show clearly that offshore wind capital costs remain high and that their operation and maintenance costs are rising rapidlyโ€.57Craig Mackinlay. โ€œDid the PM tell the truth about Net Zero?,โ€ The Critic, September 10, 2021. Archived November 6, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/HATVw 

Mackinlay added that โ€œGovernment cost estimates are invariably based on the predictions of the industries concernedโ€, and that checking the wind and solar industriesโ€™ predictions โ€œagainst the reality of audited accountsโ€ makes their claims about the efficiency of wind and solar appear โ€œmisleadingโ€.  

September 2021

Mackinlay wrote an article for The Critic titled โ€œWhat will Net Zero cost?โ€ in which he argued that the transition to net zero emissions is โ€œthe British stateโ€™s biggest undertaking for a generation and a strange throwback to the command and control regimes of oldโ€.58Craig Mackinlay. โ€œWhat will Net Zero cost?โ€ The Critic, August/September 2021. Archived November 13, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ek962 

Macklinay added: โ€œEvery gas boiler will need to be replaced, the freedoms, flexibility and affordability offered by petrol and diesel vehicles will have to be denied, and most industrial processes reimagined.โ€

Mackinlay also wrote that it had not been determined who would pay for the transition, and that the Climate Change Committeeโ€™s cost estimate for the transition meant โ€œhouseholds are each facing a ยฃ50,000 bill for over the next 30 yearsโ€.

September 8, 2021

In a parliamentary debate, Mackinlay asked the Prime Minister for an answer to โ€œconstituents I have of the futureโ€ who will have to โ€œsit around a tepid radiator powered by an inefficient and expensive air source heating unit, worrying about the payments on the electric car that they didnโ€™t want either, while they watch the growing economies of the world going hell-for-leather building new gas and coal power stationsโ€.59โ€œCraig Mackinlay MP describes his constituents of the future “sitting around a tepid radiator” powered by an expensive air source heat pump. @cmackinlay Could this be your future under Net Zero?โš ๏ธ#CostOfNetZeroโ€, tweet from user @NetZeroWatch. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived October 27, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/2nbhX 

Mackinlay asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson to โ€œplease commit to solutions that are technologically possible to reduce Britainโ€™s CO2โ€ rather than โ€œuncosted commitmentsโ€. The clip was later shared by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, since rebranded as Net Zero Watch, on Twitter. 

August 19, 2021

In an interview for Kent Online, Mackinlay voiced his opposition to wider adoption of electric vehicles, claiming that Britons โ€œare being skewered down the route of just battery vehiclesโ€ and that โ€œthere are a lot of hidden costs to the planet here, not least because of the rare metals involved, which are usually produced in the Democratic Republic of Congo, involving unspeakable human miseryโ€.60Paul Francis. โ€œSouth Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay to lead backbench group scrutinising government over climate change decisions,โ€ Kent Online, August 19, 2021. Archived November 2, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Cxpns

August 16, 2021

In a personal update posted to his website, Mackinlay wrote about Parliament returning: โ€œHow can we steer the government away from potential unfolding disaster in its unrealistic Net Zero plans? Lots of challenges on the horizon and you can be sure I will be in the thick of it.โ€61Craig Mackinlay. โ€œMy Regular Update: August 16, 2021,โ€ Craig Mackinlay MP, August 16, 2021. Archived December 13, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/QFFsg 

July 29, 2021

Mackinlay announced on his website that his constituency had received more than ยฃ6.5 million for flood protection from the government, meaning that โ€œ913 more homes and businesses in Thanet are to be better protected from flooding and coastal erosion by 2026-2027โ€.62Craig Mackinlay. โ€œThanet To Receive Over ยฃ6.5m For Flood Protection,โ€ Craig Mackinlay MP, July 29, 2021. Archived December 13, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/bNRho Although the governmentโ€™s press release for the scheme explicitly noted it was meant to increase the areaโ€™s โ€œclimate resilienceโ€, Bob Ward, policy and communications director for the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, pointed out that Macklinay did not acknowledge that the funding was allocated to address the effects of climate change.63โ€œSouth East flood protection receives record government investment,โ€ GOV.UK, July 29, 2021. Archived July 29, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/1vIX5 64Bob Ward, โ€œMisinformation and propaganda campaign on net zero,โ€ September 10, 2021. Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Archived October 23, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/U2cr2 

July 16, 2021

Mackinlay wrote an article for Conservative Home titled โ€œThe Government is fooling itself if it thinks it can go down the Net Zero path without electoral damageโ€, in which he called the governmentโ€™s current path to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 โ€œmuddled, costly and impracticalโ€ and said that โ€œthe poor will suffer from these elite delusionsโ€. He also said that there is no answer to the question of โ€œwho paysโ€ for the net zero transition, and raised concerns about a โ€œradical transformation of every part of the economyโ€.65Craig Mackinlay. โ€œCraig Mackinlay: The Government is fooling itself if it thinks it can go down the Net Zero path without electoral damage,โ€ Conservative Home, July 16, 2021. Archived November 11, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/flhIm 

Mackinlay also criticised the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) and its ยฃ1.4 trillion cost estimate for the transition to net zero, saying the body โ€œiโ€‹โ€‹s supposed to provide rigorous, independent advice to parliamentโ€ but โ€œalways recommends further and fasterโ€.

He added: โ€œThe CCC is a significant player in the political debate around Net Zero, often explicitly directing Government policy, while being totally unelected and unaccountable. Mainstream media regurgitates its words sagely with little space offered to those who question its assumptions.โ€ 

November 25, 2020

After noting his new role as the chairman of the APPG for Fair Fuel for Motorists and Hauliers, Mackinlay wrote in a local Thanet column that the governmentโ€™s 2030 diesel and petrol car ban meant โ€œany beneficial technological improvements to the diesel and petrol engine which has advanced rapidly with cleaner burning, more efficient engines, now comes to a grinding halt foreverโ€. Mackinlay added: โ€œโ€‹โ€‹The anti-motorist battle continues as I speak out against new ill-conceived cycle lanes carved out from already congested and insufficient road space. Iโ€™m all for new dedicated space for cycling and walking but not at the expense of other road users.โ€66Craig Mackinlay. โ€œCraig Mackinlay: Thanet column for week ending November 27,โ€ InYourArea, November 25, 2020. Archived January 18, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Vj0FE

In the same column, Mackinaly wrote that while โ€œwe all want cleaner airโ€, hydrogen technology is โ€œmore sensibleโ€ than electric vehicles (EVs) and that EV batteries and the necessary โ€œupgraded electricity infrastructureโ€ must be factored into the carbon cost of switching to electric vehicles. 

June 17, 2018

Mackinlay was found to have breached House of Commons rules due to a potential financial interest by calling for the unused Manston airport in his constituency of South Thanet to be โ€œresurrectedโ€ during Commons debates. Mackinlay had failed to declare his role as a director of Mama Airlines Ltd, which he had founded in 2000 with the intention of running a โ€œlow-costโ€ airline from Manston to Malaga.67Tom Barnes. โ€œTory MP breaches Commons rules by calling to reopen airport from which he had wanted to run his own airline,โ€ The Independent, June 17, 2018. Archived November 9, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/yW850 

In a statement, Mackinlay said: โ€œThe company has never traded, has never even had a bank account, and I have never derived any remuneration or benefit from it.

โ€œNot in my wildest dreams did I think, through any common sense interpretation of the rules, that a dormant company, a mere incorporation of an idea some 17 years old would require registration.

โ€œI will continue to speak up for an aviation future for Manston as much as I am able, not least as, despite the passage of time, it is an industry that I understand and have, albeit historic, knowledge of.โ€

Affiliations

  • Conservative Party โ€” Member of Parliament.
  • Net Zero Scrutiny Group โ€” Leader.
  • Fair Fuel UK โ€” Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and Hauliers.
  • UK Independence Party โ€” Former leader and deputy leader.

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