Ben

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@LeeAndersonMP_ Such a professional response from an elected MP.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@KingBill @mic69449413 @FinanceTiger Central bank rate ≠ mortgage rate. Lenders always add a 1.5%–2% spread for risk, admin, and profit. Overall mortgage rates around 4–5% are pretty typical historically.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@FinanceTiger Since the Bank of England (BoE) was founded in 1694, the average base rate has been approximately 4.5% to 5.0%. There is norhing unordinary about current levels.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@TiceRichard ‘Never happened before’ is an outright lie. Frequency swings and multi-million-pound balancing days occurred long before Net Zero targets. Integrating renewables requires new tools, but high costs are mostly driven by transmission bottlenecks and gas prices.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@TheGNPE Completely false framing. Foreign nationals do not get the UK state pension "without having to" pay in. Just like everyone else, they must meet the exact same National Insurance contribution requirements (typically 10 to 35 qualifying years

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@WizardOfTheNthC @LexiBeaChorlton That is technically true via Parliamentary Sovereignty, but it is completely unworkable in reality. Wrecking contract law and expropriating earned pensions destroys economic trust and causes an immediate total collapse of the NHS, schools, and policing. So it won’t happen.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@WizardOfTheNthC @LexiBeaChorlton Slashing pensions for current retirees would be tied up in court for years and ultimately ruled illegal. Combine that with a salary cap, and you’d trigger a massive exodus of NHS staff, teachers, and police. The total reward package is what keeps the public sector staffed.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@WizardOfTheNthC @LexiBeaChorlton You can’t retroactively cut pensions people have already earned as it breaks contract law. Plus, public schemes are unfunded (PAYG); slashing employer contributions doesn't erase the liability, it just shifts the shortfall directly onto the Treasury.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@ArganautX @neso_energy That's why the grid has gas generation, nuclear, interconnectors to Europe, and battery/hydro storage to cover dark, calm winter days. No grid relies on 100% weather-dependent renewables without dispatchable backup.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@WizardOfTheNthC @LexiBeaChorlton Are you proposing to change them to defined contribution? If so, where will you find the tens of billions to pay for current retired public sector workers pensions?

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@Lindy_Loo15 Read the NESO quote again—it was a transmission infrastructure delay (grid lines/cables), not a wind generation failure.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@ArganautX @neso_energy Not really. Blackouts happen when the system actually fails, but this is an example of the system working as planned. NESO used interconnectors to cover a delay so nobody lost power. That's standard grid management, not a sign of imminent collapse.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@GoodwinMJ When you look at the actual numbers, total asylum costs are a tiny fraction of public spending compared to things like the NHS or domestic welfare. Pitching this as a silver bullet for the UK's budget doesn't hold up to basic maths.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@GoodwinMJ Suspending the entire asylum system and trying to retroactively deport hundreds of thousands of people ignores international law, international treaties, and the sheer logistical impossibility of doing it without crashing the civil service and courts.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@stonbcfc @SandyofSuffolk Excluding the state pension the UK government spends 100-110 billion a year on benefits for white British people. That is roughly 23 to 26 times higher than annual government spending on asylum support and irregular migration. Yet you choose to only mention ‘dingy invaders’.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@sarah_go_green @AllQuizAble The fuel savings are real if you can charge at home, but the issue is comparing like-for-like. Fuel savings on a small city EV won't cover the jump to a larger EV SUV or family estate if someone actually needs space and range to replace a long-distance diesel.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@sarah_go_green @AllQuizAble Sure, but a £150 lease gets you a city hatchback, not a family car that replaces a long-distance diesel! You get what you pay for.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@fergustp @1__Pendragon__1 Correct: you can't pump pure hydrogen into standard legacy gas pipes without upgrades. That's why dedicated transmission pipelines are planned.
It’s used as seasonal power backup, produced using cheap curtailed wind energy, not daily heating gas.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@fergustp @1__Pendragon__1 Large UK nuclear gigawatt plants require massive seawater cooling, restricting them to coastal sites, not inland coal locations. Legacy grid connections at old coal plants rarely handle modern multi-GW output without major transmission overhauls anyway.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@fergustp @1__Pendragon__1 Hydrogen isn't daily fuel; it's low-cost seasonal backup in salt caverns. The Royal Society model includes all grid costs and still shows renewables are cheapest overall.

[Ben @Inverter1979]

@fergustp @1__Pendragon__1 Nuclear plants also require massive transmission upgrades to move power from remote coastal sites to cities. They aren't free to connect. Grid investments are high for any total system redesign, but renewables save massively on fuel over time.