In a previously unreleased Freedom of Information reply the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it does not hold information about which companies, organisations or bodies are using the UK’s largest data centres nor the purposes for which they are used.
The government plans to massively expand data centres across the UK using powers to overrule community opposition by categorising them as items of “critical national infrastructure”, yet told campaigners last September that it holds no information about who or what they are being used for.
The rapid growth of Generative Artificial Intelligence has fuelled an unprecedented need for new and much larger data centres which have massive water and energy needs.
Green party leader Zack Polanski (Green Party of England and Wales). Image: Bristol Green Party Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Zack Polanski, Green Party leader said::
“How can the government designate new data centres as ‘critical national infrastructure’ when they don’t even keep records on who is using them and what they are being used for?
“The government plans to steamroller over local opposition so private companies can build these facilities – yet they can’t even explain what the benefits are and who is benefitting.
“What is more ‘critical’ than peoples’ access to water? What is more ‘critical’ than our need to transition to a low energy, low pollution world so we can put the brakes on climate extremes?
“The government must end this wrong-headed ‘critical national infrastructure’ designation and make sure UK citizens are given priority access to water as we move into an increasingly drought-prone future.”
The revelations come after Zack Polanski’s call last week for an end to the designation of any new data centres as national infrastructure, and for a tightening of planning rules to prevent a rash of new data centres taking precedence over households for water and energy usage.
Campaign group Global Action Plan who filed the Freedom of Information requisition are leading on a UK-wide call for a moratorium of new data centres. Their Parliamentary Campaigns Manager, Anisah Khan, said:
“Big Tech’s government-endorsed expansion of AI data centres prioritises corporate profit over community need. This reckless, rapid rollout is having a detrimental impact on the environment and housing targets, side-lining local people and politician’s concerns.
“At a time when individuals across the country are facing hosepipe bans and essential housebuilding is being delayed because data centres are gobbling up grid connections, what we need is not more chatbots at any cost.
“We need the UK Government to announce a moratorium on data centre developments until a clear framework is in place to address environmental and social concerns and impose transparency around these developments and their proposed societal use.”
Equinix datacentre under construction (right) and an operational datacentre (left) in Slough. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Government says Green leader’s proposed moratorium on ‘energy-guzzling’ AI projects would be disaster for economy
Labour has rejected calls to pause construction of major AI infrastructure in Britain after the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, said it was time to “slam the brakes on these energy-guzzling, water-guzzling datacentres”.
The government hit back at the opposition party’s proposal of a “moratorium other than [for] local-scale datacentres for the local community”, saying it “would be a disaster for jobs and national security”.
The Greens’ call for a pause comes amid one of the UK’s worst droughts in years and predictions that datacentres’ electricity use, now standing at about 2.5% of the UK’s supply, will rise fourfold by 2030.
Datacentres contain the processing chips that power billions of AI prompts every day and Labour has designated them as critical national infrastructure, a decision Polanski called “outrageous”. “To most people critical infrastructure means hospitals, water, electricity,” he said. “It doesn’t mean artificial intelligence.”
He added: “Right now the government is putting our communities, our water security and our climate ambitions second to the demands of tech giants.”
Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark RichardsGreenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Last month was the driest July ever recorded in the country since records began in 1836 | Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Adapting to an over-heated planet means very little unless it is accompanied by addressing the root causes of climate breakdown.
Will the succession of heatwaves across Europe and the UK compel governments of all complexions to take climate breakdown more seriously? While much of the news and public conversation this summer has focused on the tragic deaths of people caught in wildfires, floods, and storms, less attention has been paid to how heat waves kill people directly.
When the temperature rises to the point where the body can no longer cool itself, this is termed “uncompensable heat stress”, or UHS, and has long been known to have a disproportionate risk for the over sixties: The older you are, the less you can sweat; your heart works harder and your blood vessels are less able to widen, all adding to the risk of heat stress and early death. In an ageing and warming world, people older than sixty will increase in numbers to 2.1 billion by 2050 and are more likely to succumb to UHS.
Last year, one of the hottest ever on record in Britain, analysis from the UK Health Security Agency put excess deaths due to heat-related factors at 1,504. As of June this year, most of the country had already experienced four heatwaves, causing 2,877 excess deaths. Since then, there have been more heat waves with early indications of another in September, meaning a huge increase in heat-related deaths as compared to the previous year.
This rapid escalation in heat-related deaths is worth considering in a context where previous forecasts on the rate of climate change have proved to be too optimistic: Heavily populated Europe appears to be heating up much faster than the average, and research on the ability of forests to soak up greenhouse gases and help prevent climate breakdown has turned out to be less than expected.
Meanwhile, the naturally occurring El Niño/La Niña climate cycle is entering a “heating phase”, which is likely to further increase global heating and disruptive weather in the coming months. On Friday, the Met Office warned that this year’s El Nino is likely to be the most intense in recent memory. “We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event,” Prof Adam Scaife, head of long-range forecasting at the UK Met Office, told the BBC. “I have never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts.”
Sleep-walking towards disaster
Why are we sleepwalking towards disaster in this way when it simply does not make sense? Of the many reasons, three stand out; each requiring concerted governmental effort and leadership.
First, what needs to be done is a mammoth task. Not only will we have to radically decarbonise our economies, but we will need major changes in behaviour including a much less meat-based diet, far less use of air travel and far greater use of electricity generated from renewable resources, and a far more circular economy.
Second, the current economic system where neoliberal economics in its various forms is simply not fit for purpose. Crucially, when it comes to climate breakdown the need to act a decade or more ahead of impact is incompatible with free market ideology that believes that the market works best when it has the minimum of regulation. The kind of economic planning and management that the risk of climate breakdown requires is anathema to the very idea of a free market.
Moreover, this is in addition to the runaway wealth that the current free market system favours. So endemic to the system is the accumulation of wealth and political power in the hands of an elite few, that any attempt at an environmentally sustainable economy “for the many, not the few” will be strongly resisted by the few.
Finally, there are the well-resourced right-wing think tanks and lobbies determined to maintain the status quo. The Atlas Foundation alone “provides training, networking, and grants for libertarian, free-market and conservative groups around the world” working with nearly 800 groups in over a hundred countries.
There is already support in the UK and many other countries for adapting to a warmer world, including much better funded emergency services, improved housing and better ventilation, but a core problem remains.
Adaption currently envisaged means very little unless it is accompanied by addressing the root causes of climate breakdown, especially the burning of fossil carbon in the form of coal, oil or gas. All that adaptation does is give us a few extra years before we are overwhelmed by even higher temperatures and wilder weather, and that goes on, and on, with far more of the world becoming uninhabitable.
The heat excesses of the past year will have killed many tens of thousands of people across the world, especially among the poorest. It is vital to shift the political mood enough to truly accelerate the necessary changes. There is a small chance that further devastation caused by El Nino might focus minds on the reality of climate breakdown, but the likes of Trump and most of the global oligarchy will do all they can to prevent that.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark RichardsGreenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)
dizzy: UK government’s inaction and support of climate-destroying datacentres suggests that Burnham & Co are likely to permit the Rosebank and Jackdaw North Sea oil and gas fields further destroying the planet.
Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire. CC image Wikipedia.
Green MP and leader of the Parliamentary Green Party Dr Ellie Chowns has written to newly appointed Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband urging the UK Government to take genuine action over the Israeli Government’s “grave and ongoing human rights abuses” in Palestine and end UK complicity in genocide and other war crimes.
Writing ahead of Parliament’s return next week, the letter urges Miliband to demonstrate a more effective and principled way of responding to the Israeli Government’s actions, arguing that it is “vital that the UK Government does not simply condemn breaches of international law, but acts decisively to stop them.”
The full text of the letter reads:
Dear Ed,
As you will be aware, we are quickly approaching the return of Parliament following a summer which has ushered forth a new Prime Minister, a largely new Cabinet, and a new position for yourself, as Foreign Secretary. What is yet to be seen is whether we will also see a new and more effective and principled way of responding to the Israeli Government’s grave and ongoing human rights abuses in Palestine. It is vital that the UK Government does not simply condemn breaches of international law, but acts decisively to stop them.
The need for urgent action cannot be overstated; the ongoing genocide has seen more than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israeli forces since the ceasefire came into effect in October 2025. Access to critical humanitarian aid such as food and medical supplies remains heavily restricted, and the displacement of Palestinians has continued as Israeli forces expand further into Gaza beyond the agreed ceasefire boundaries. Illegal Israeli settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank also continues to escalate, with the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reporting about 190 attacks a month in the first four months of 2026, alongside the publication of construction tenders for 1,200 homes in the E1 area.
While I recognise your condemnation of the E1 plans and acknowledgement of the destructive threat that settlement expansion poses to peace in the region, it is clear that simply issuing statements of concern is not enough to make the Israeli Government change course.
I therefore urge you to learn from the mistakes of your predecessors and take genuine action to protect the human rights of Palestinians, uphold international law, and make clear that the UK will no longer be complicit in genocide and other war crimes in Palestine. These actions include, but are not limited to:
Ending all arms sales to, and military cooperation with, Israel;
Banning all trade with illegal Israeli settlements in order to ensure the UK does not profit from the occupation of Palestine;
Imposing further sanctions on Netanyahu and other senior Israeli Government officials responsible for breaches of international law;
Demanding and helping secure unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza so essential food, medicine, shelter, and other aid can reach those who desperately need it;
Driving independent investigations into war crimes and backing justice mechanisms for victims, in order to bring about the accountability required for a just and lasting peace.
There is significant and growing support for these measures across Parliament, including from many MPs within your own party. Indeed, the Prime Minister himself has acknowledged that Labour previously “got it wrong” on Gaza and has said that more needed to be done to ensure Israel adheres to international law; your new position grants you an opportunity to turn that recognition into meaningful action.
I therefore hope that you will act with the urgency that this moment demands. The UK Government must stand firmly for international law, human rights, and the protection of civilians, not for further impunity for those responsible for war crimes.
I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to further discuss the cross-party role Parliament can play in securing justice, accountability, and a lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Ellie Chowns
MP for North Herefordshire
Leader of the Parliamentary Green Party and Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Responding to the hike in energy prices to the highest level for three years, under the regulator Ofgem’s latest price cap, Green MP Hannah Spencer said:
“It’s a repeat story for millions of households – energy bills up just in time for winter, and now to their highest level in three years. Meanwhile, oil and gas companies rake in billions in profits.
“Bill payers are being ripped off, and while Burnham keeps talking about giving struggling households breathing space, today’s rise in the price cap will see his measly £45 a year bill reduction more than wiped out.
“The government could immediately cut bills by removing policy costs and the costs of servicing energy debt off bills and onto wealth taxes. They are choosing not to.
“The Green Party knows that small tweaks won’t cut it. Only by scaling up renewable energy, ending rampant profiteering by energy giants, insulating millions of homes, and fully decoupling the price of gas from electricity can we bring down bills for good. Giving the green light to new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea won’t cut bills, it will only worsen the climate crisis.”
