Tuesday newspaper round-up: Gas power stations, blackouts, IBM

(Sharecast News) - Britain's gas power stations should be nationalised to prevent their owners from holding the electricity market "to ransom", a thinktank has urged. The country's dwindling fossil fuel power plants are ripe for nationalisation as ministers aim to reduce gas consumption to just 5% of the electricity system by 2030, according to a report by Common Wealth. - Guardian Keir Starmer has been warned that Labour's tough stance on benefits is costing Britain's economy billions of pounds each year while adding to the pressure on public services by pushing more people into poverty. With the government under fire over its planned benefit cuts, the anti-poverty charity Trussell said that failing to tackle hunger and hardship would have severe human costs and cause damage to the wider economy and public finances. - Guardian

A reliance on net zero energy left Spain and Portugal vulnerable to the mass blackouts engulfing the region, experts said on Monday night. In what is believed to be Europe's largest power cut, tens of millions of people were left without electricity, while flights were grounded, trains halted and whole cities were left without power, internet access or other vital services. - Telegraph

One of the world's largest computer companies has said it will spend $150 billion in America over the next five years, making it the latest US technology company to bow to President Trump's push for domestic manufacturing. IBM, nicknamed "Big Blue", is based in New York and traces its roots back to 1911. It said the investment would include $30 billion on research and development of the group's mainframe and quantum computers. - The Times

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has fired a fresh broadside at UK energy policy, claiming that the burden of paying carbon taxes has forced his company to halt projects that would cut its emissions. The outspoken chairman of Ineos said its Grangemouth site in Scotland would have to pay a £15 million bill this week for its carbon dioxide emissions last year. - The Times