Ed Miliband is Surrendering Our Energy Security to China

95% of solar panel components and 75% of lithium batteries come from the Communist state

So, it appears that Sir Keir Starmer trip to China next week will now go ahead, following his craven surrender over the Chinese ‘super embassy’. His decision to approve it flies in the face of the advice from the security services, not to mention common sense.

But the UK’s national security is already being compromised by our ever-increasing dependence on China for much of our energy and transport infrastructure, all thanks to Net Zero.

Ed Miliband wants to carpet the countryside with solar panels, tripling our existing capacity in the next five years. And where will all these solar panels come from? China produces about 85% of the world’s output of panels and maybe as much as 95% of the key components, such as polysilicon, wafers and cells, as well as final module assembly.

Solar panels don’t last forever – maybe 15 years at the most. So, what will happen when we need to replace them all in a decade or two? Go cap in hand to the Chinese and hope that we have not done anything to offend them? With global demand growing and rival producers, such as Vietnam and Malaysia, tiny in comparison, we won’t have any other choice.