Dr John Constable, Net Zero Watch’s director of energy and a co-author of the paper, said: “In boosting onshore wind, Mr Kwarteng is either desperate and mistaken or indulging in cynical gesture politics to cover up what he knows he absolutely must do: namely expand domestic natural gas supply and build new high-efficiency combined cycle gas turbines.

“Foolish government enthusiasm for low-quality generation, such as wind, is one of the main reasons we have an energy crisis. More wind won’t help and, in fact, will make the gas dependency issue much worse.”

The Net Zero Watch paper insisted that “in the short term, there is no alternative to gas, and rather than pretending otherwise… the Government should be candid with the public and focus relentlessly on replacing the older combined cycle gas turbines with new models that are more thermally efficient (and thus cheaper and cleaner) and on increasing UK production of natural gas onshore and offshore”.

Last week, The Telegraph disclosed that Boris Johnson was privately frustrated with Rishi Sunak over the Chancellor’s apparent resistance to the Prime Minister’s push for a dramatic increase in the number of nuclear power plants in Britain. 

The Net Zero Watch paper stated that nuclear energy can provide greater stability but “is relevant only in the medium to longer term” because of the length of time required to construct nuclear plants.

A government spokesman said: “Gas is expensive and renewables are cheap. By boosting cheap renewables and nuclear power, we will reduce our dependence on expensive fossil fuels and bring down costs for consumers. 

“Our upcoming energy security strategy will supercharge our renewable energy and nuclear capacity, as well as supporting our North Sea oil and gas industry.”