National Grid jokingly branded 'anti-growth' as it warns of winter blackouts

Households could experience blackouts towards the end of this year, in the “unlikely” event that energy shortages from Europe combines with an “insufficient” gas supply in Great Britain, the National Grid has warned.

The company, who overlook the transmission network for electricity in England and Wales, gave the bleak details on Thursday as one of two scenarios for this winter away from its “base case” – which expects there to be “sufficient operational surplus” for the cold season ahead.

Their Winter Outlook Report reads: “In the unlikely event we were in this situation, it would mean that some customers could be without power for pre-defined periods during a day – generally this is assumed to be for three-hour blocks.

“This would be necessary to ensure the overall security and integrity of the electricity system across Great Britain.”

While – again – the National Grid have stressed the scenario is “unlikely”, that hasn’t stopped Twitter from cracking jokes about the energy company being part of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s “anti-growth coalition”:

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In case you missed it, Ms Truss took aim at this new “coalition” in her speech to Conservative Party Conference on Wednesday, detailing a list of people and organisations she claimed were the “enemies of enterprise”.

“Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP, the militant unions, the vested interests dressed up as think tanks, the talking heads, the Brexit deniers, Extinction Rebellion and some of the people [Greenpeace protesters] we had in the hall earlier,” she told members in Birmingham.

Unsurprisingly, Kwasi Kwarteng – the chancellor of the Exchequer who crashed the pound with his mini-budget – isn’t considered “anti-growth” according to the PM.

Though rather hilariously, The Independent reports Downing Street have not ruled out chef Jamie Oliver as being part of this bizarre “coalition”.

Bit ominous, Liz, mate.

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