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Malcolm Wicks going as well

One little snippet in the middle of the government reshuffle is the departure of Malcolm Wicks.

Malcolm Wicks has been responsible for Energy issues although how much freedom of manouvre he has had is unclear. Our energy situation is a total mess. We continue to have insufficient gas storage even though the situation is clear. The market trades at the marginal price resulting in increasing fuel poverty and an expectation of a growth in winter deaths. The start of the next decade seems to be worse than the current situation in terms of electricity and we don't have enough generation infrastructure for demand.

It is a little confusing reading National Grid's Winter Outlook. They have a very low figure for LNG imports this winter. However, people are expecting much more. They are also expecting a lot from Norway, but there does not seem to be good evidence for this.

It will take some time to bottom out the gas predictions as they have done the report in a different structure to previous years. However, it does not fill me with confidence as far as energy security goes. Without energy security we then have massive price jumps.

Malcolm Wicks has been named as a "special representative to the PM" on Energy issues. I am not sure what this means. In any event the whole government have to accept responsibility for the energy mess that we currently have.

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