Minister: “Wind farms; enough is enough”

Conservative MP John Hayes has been in hot water recently for commenting on the vast number of onshore wind farms “peppered” across the UK.

John Hayes, Conservative MP.

Mr Hayes has been publicly ‘slapped down’ by Lib Dem boss Ed Davey over comments he made in an interview with the Daily Mail.

He was discussing a speech he was due to make the next day regarding future government energy policy, but was ordered to remove the controversial comments from the speech after Mr Davey heard what he was planning to say, claiming that there had been no change in government policy on wind power.

Some are saying that this could spell the start of a major rift in the coalition, with Mr Hayes possibly planning to declare a moratorium on new onshore wind projects.

Mr Hayes expressed concern for communities: “We can no longer have wind turbines imposed on communities. I can’t single-handedly build a new Jerusalem but I can protect our green and pleasant land.”

Earlier this year Tim Yeo, a much keener ‘green’ Conservative MP said that the government should be prepared to bribe communities to accept new wind farms.

Mr Davey said: “John does not decide government policy. There will be no change. We are in a coalition government, not a single party government and definitely not a single minister government. We are determined to make sure the coalition lives up to the Prime Minister’s pledge to make it the greenest government ever.”

Earlier this year over a hundred Tory minsters wrote a letter to the prime minister about wind farms.