The Tories railed against ‘green crap’. Why trust them to solve the energy crisis now? | Polly Toynbee

Since David Cameron's 2013 U-turn, wind and solar power have been sidelined. Do you believe Boris Johnson will do better?

In the grip of the energy crisis, gas prices are already due to increase by 50% in April, and will spike higher later in the year, while the chancellor's modest mitigations do little for unaffordable bills. Boris Johnson is about to produce an energy strategy to cut reliance on Russian imports and speed UK generation. He wobbles on fracking.

But before he boasts some world-beating" plan, hold on to this salient fact. If the Tories had not blocked progress on renewables and insulation over the last decade, Britain would already be generating more clean energy than the amount provided by the fuels imported from Russia.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist