Subsidies Galore!
by David Turver 9 December 2024 5:00 PM
Last week, I came across a government database that I had not heard of before, namely the Subsidy Control Transparency Database. The database was mentioned in an update email from DESNZ, telling me that the results of the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 6 (AR6) had been loaded on to it. Of course, my curiosity got the better of me and I had to dig in to see what other Net Zero and energy related subsidies might be lurking within.
In the film Whisky Galore, the SS Cabinet Minister runs aground and its cargo of whisky is harvested by the locals. Our cabinet ministers have yet to run aground, but there are plenty of people eager to harvest the subsidies on offer. Over the past two years, I have come across some egregious things in Net Zero world, but even I was shocked by some of the scale of some of the subsidy schemes that have been implemented.
Subsidy Control Transparency Database
Before we dig into the Net Zero and energy related items, we should note some important caveats about the whole database. First, for subsidies recorded as part of the Contract for Difference Scheme (CfD), the government claims the amounts are a “higher end estimate”. Second, it appears as though there are some duplicate entries, for instance SC10301 and SC10069 are both support measures for the development of film audiences, in the sum of £60 million with identical start dates. Finally, the budget amounts might be suspect because the most expensive subsidy line is SC1005, U.K. Film Tax Relief Prolongation which is supposed to cost £2,960 billion, that’s more than U.K. GDP, between April 2020 and April 2025. It is very unlikely that this figure is accurate and so it calls into question the accuracy of other entries in the database.
https://dailysceptic.org/2024/12/09/subsidies-galore/
