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

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 will warned. The spymaster will tonight blast ministers in a landmark speech after accusing the Government of handing Beijing the tools to turn Britain’s lights out. Ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove has blasted ministers for putting Britain on an ‘energy cliff’ by prioritising woke Net Zero policies over threats from Russia and China Credit: Alamy The former spymaster will take aim at Ed Miliband in his speech Credit: Alamy Sir Richard, who ran MI6 from 1999 to 2004, will deliver his warning in a lecture to the Global Warming Policy Foundation in London. He will say: “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.” Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Sir Richard claims ministers have spent too long focusing on climate change and eco policies. He will say the country’s biggest threat is not global warming but Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Xi Jinping’s China. Both are willing to use Britain’s reliance on foreign equipment and undersea cables as weapons, he added. He said the Kremlin’s GRU spy agency has spent decades building the capability to sever cables, pipelines and electricity interconnectors. Sir Richard is to say: “We are not the victims of a conspiracy to make us vulnerable. We have quite casually done this to ourselves. “Such peacetime dependencies give China strategic leverage. Most read in The Sun “Water, sewage, gas networks, rail and underground transport, traffic lights and communication are all mains-connected. Sir Richard said the country’s biggest threat is not global warming but Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Xi Jinping’s China Credit: Reuters “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 adds: “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 will go 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. “No-one can now pretend that our enemies China, Russia and Iran are not using our self-harming delusion with ‘net zero’ to attack the core of national security by Active Measures.” Comment now