Britain on ‘energy cliff’ after woke Net Zero drive left us exposed to Russia and China, ex-MI6 chief warns

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BRITAIN is on the edge of an “energy cliff” after prioritising woke Net Zero policies over taking on Russia and China, ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove has warned.

The spymaster last night blasted ministers in a landmark speech after accusing the Government of handing Beijing the tools to turn Britain’s lights out.

Sir Richard, who ran MI6 from 1999 to 2004, delivered his warning in a lecture to the Global Warming Policy Foundation in London.

He said: “We have as a nation negligently wandered close to a cliff edge and the adversaries I have described stand ready to help us over it.”

Sir Richard claimed ministers have spent too long focusing on climate change and eco policies.

He said the country’s biggest threat is not global warming but Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Xi Jinping’s China.

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“Water, sewage, gas networks, rail and underground transport, traffic lights and communication are all mains-connected.

“We have very little industry left to protect and we cannot rebuild non-existent industries which lie in foreign jurisdictions beyond our reach.”

And, taking aim at Ed Miliband, he added: “Does the Foreign Secretary, the arch prophet of net zero, have any grasp of the country’s predicament?

“His present focus on new West Bank Israeli settlements suggests that his attention is elsewhere.”

He went on: “To hear the Prime Minister state in Parliament that ‘national security can’t come at the expense of social security’ leaves me in a state of pessimism and extreme concern.

“The first responsibility of government is the safety of the nation.

“However successive governments have forgotten this, and Britain is now caught in an energy trap of its own making.

“The task is urgent. The government should have this amongst its very top priorities.

“Stated simply, we need an energy policy which moves us back a safe distance from the cliff edge.”

Professor Gwythian Prins, of the London School of Economics, said: “As a former head of MI6, Sir Richard’s warnings are of chilling importance.