What’s more 70s than eating by candlelight? Woodbines and Noddy Holder, says Andrew Marr
6 October 2022, 18:15
Andrew Marr says after the optimism of the Tory conference 'harsh reality bit back.'
Andrew Marr has highlighted some embarrassment for the PM after she “ruled out” the prospects of blackouts at a huntings for LBC before she became PM.
In his opening monologue he said: “Liz Truss told LBC that rationing this winter ‘would not happen.’
“I can’t think of anything more 1970s than eating by candlelight, other than perhaps Woodbines and Noddy Holder.”
“It won’t make the PM more popular,” he added.
His comments come after the PM insisted the UK can “get through the winter” after the warnings that planned blackouts could be needed for the first time in decades.
Read more: Britain battles to keep the lights on
The Prime Minister said the UK has "good energy supplies" although stopped short of explicitly offering a guarantee of no blackouts, in response to concerns from the body that oversees Britain's electricity grid.
Households are being encouraged to help avoid blackouts, "save money and back Britain", by using more energy during off-peak times.
In what it called an "unlikely" scenario, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said that households and businesses might face planned three-hour outages to ensure that the grid does not collapse.
Planned blackouts hit the UK during the 1970s in response to the miners' strikes and the oil crisis.
There have also been major unplanned outages during storms, including in 1987 when more than 1.5 million people were left in the dark.
But the lights will stay on this winter unless the gas-fired power plants that produced 43% of Britain's electricity over the last year cannot get enough gas to continue operating.
