Alok Sharma backs bid to lift ban on onshore windfarms in England

The president of the Cop26 climate summit Alok Sharma has become the latest Conservative party MP to support lifting the ban on new onshore wind farms.

Sharma has joined his former boss Boris Johnson, who nominated him for a peerage, in backing an amendment to government legislation in an attempt to drop the moratorium on onshore wind.

It means that the amendment to the Levelling Up bill, led by former leveling up secretary Simon Clarke, now has the support of 22 Tory MPs.

Both Johnson and his successor Liz Truss signed the proposal to lift the ban. Clarke’s amendment would force the government to change its policy within six months to allow new wind farm schemes.

It comes as Michael Gove is understood to have told allies he also supports ending the ban, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The leveling-up secretary is believed to have been joined by the business secretary, Grant Shapps, and Graham Stuart, the climate change minister, in privately supporting the calls to lift the ban, according to the paper.

Since 2014, planning rules have in effect barred any new onshore windfarms in England under a tightening of restrictions imposed by David Cameron’s government after pressure from Tory activists.

Sharma, a former business secretary, tweeted: “Onshore wind is one of the cheapest forms of renewable power and will help to bolster the UK’s energy security.

“Putin’s illegal and brutal war in Ukraine has reinforced that climate & environmental security are totally interlinked with energy and national security.