In theory yes, but the locations in the UK don’t coincide.
The old coal plants were built nearer to consumption, most of which is in the South East of England. The planned wind farms are mostly in the North Sea, far from South East of England. It will cost billions to build the infra to connect the north with the south. It’s not a simple matter of reusing what exists.
Almost all the UK nuclear plants and oil-fired plants were built on the coast. (The only nuclear plant ever built inland in the UK was Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia)
In the case of nuclear, this was to ensure reliable supply of cooling water. In the case of oil, it was to make it easy to unload crude directly off ships. The oil-fired plants were often co-located with oil refineries, many of which have now also closed.
£50 per UK resident provides several billion. If it’s important enough, a few billion over the next 5 years to secure electricity needs isn’t actually a hurdle.
You can't address every problem like that. Those £50 a time would quickly add up. Also that's several hundred pounds per household right out of discretionary income.
Building proper interconnect between the north and south isn’t “one of many competing interests.” It needs to happen to stabilize the UK grid, everyone accepts that it needs to happen, it has a multi-decade payoff time. So just figure out how to get it done now and accept that it’s not going to get cheaper. Then move on to things that are less critical and start pinching pennies there.
This is the UK. Just because something is obvious doesn't mean that conservatives and NIMBYs are going to accept it until they, personally, are sitting in the dark.
The North-South interconnects are already happening. The Western HVDC became operational in 2019[1], and two separate Eastern HVDC links (Eastern Green Link 1 & 2) are pretty far along in the planning process, with EGL1 expected to begin construction this year and EGL2 in 2025[2].
Oh sure, we have to do what's necessary by definition. It's another extra cost falling on households at a time when costs for everything are piling up.
As with everything, if it's actually important to the right people the money can be found. Businesses operating in Britain need reliable, affordable power as well. Putting the cost burden on retail customers is a political choice.
(and small businesses; the recent price hikes have been far higher than a mere £50 and have been putting restaurants out of business)
The old coal plants were built nearer to consumption, most of which is in the South East of England. The planned wind farms are mostly in the North Sea, far from South East of England. It will cost billions to build the infra to connect the north with the south. It’s not a simple matter of reusing what exists.