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Google’s former boss has warned Sir Keir Starmer he will fail to meet his 2030 clean energy goal unless he fixes UK regulations.
Eric Schmidt, Google’s former chief executive officer, said he believes Sir Keir can speed up regulation bureaucracy to ensure the government reaches its goal of decarbonising electricity by 2030.
But he said regulation is currently “killing you”.
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Speaking to Sir Keir at the International Investment Summit in London, Mr Schmidt said: “Democracies, especially something as old as this one, have so many ways in which people can say no.
“I’d much rather – and I think the business community would much rather – have a single person who can say yes or no…and then they can move on.
“The cost of capital and the delay is killing you, and furthermore you’re not going to achieve your 2030 energy goal, which is laudable, without fixing this.
“You have a tactical leadership problem to achieve this and I think you can pull it off, but you have to figure out a way to get control.”
Sir Keir agreed the speed at which decisions get signed off “is a really big challenge”.
He said: “It has to be a cross-government priority, not just within the Treasury team. It’s going to be across government.
“So we are setting up some of the structures that will do this.
“But in the end, it’s a mindset. It’s a mindset that does this promote growth? Or does this not promote growth being the most important question we ask ourselves.”
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Ahead of the question and answer session between Sir Keir and Mr Schmidt, the prime minister promised…
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