Cabinet now split over UK’S fossil fuel future
A MAJOR Cabinet split over whether to use fossil fuel reserves in Britain is holding up Boris Johnson’s new energy policy.
The Prime Minister is expected to announce his energy security plans later this week, giving the go-ahead to fracking and coal mining, as well as using North Sea oil and gas reserves.
However, a Downing Street source admitted the policy announcement, while “likely” to happen this week, may be delayed again.
Another senior source told the Sunday Express: “There is a massively split Cabinet on this issue. Unsure of the direction of travel, a solution must be found this week.”
The policy is meant to tackle the energy security crisis caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine and help to wean Britain and the EU off Russian gas. But it is also aimed at solving the problem of rising energy bills linked to the cost of living crisis.
It comes as Tory backbenchers pile pressure on the Government to allow the use of £1trillion of oil and gas reserves in the North Sea that can be found through fracking.
With energy bills now increasing by £700 per household – taking the average annual
‘Stop dithering and start drilling...’
bill to almost £2,000 – Mr Johnson and his Chancellor Rishi Sunak face calls to act quickly. They have also acknowledged that the UK needs to be self-sufficient.
To this end, the North Sea can help provide “secure, safe energy” for the next 50 years while also helping meet climate change targets, the head of a key industry body said. Oil, gas and wind power were all part of an energy package outlined by Deirdre Michie, chief executive of Offshore Energies UK.
She said: “Our industry has provided the UK with secure, safe energy for the past five decades and we can do the same for another five decades, while also helping the nation reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
“This will only happen with careful planning, preparation and investment.
“Energy infrastructure projects take years or even decades, and our industry is used to thinking on those timescales.”
And writing last month for the Sunday Express, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng made it clear that the Government now believes the UK will use its North Sea reserves “for decades to come”.
On the same weekend, the Prime Minister gave his strongest hint yet that he will allow fracking, having previously blocked exploration for natural gas.
MPS are concerned that the way Net Zero is calculated discriminates against British fossil fuels. If the UK imports gas from Norway, the carbon footprint is calculated for Norway. But if the UK burns its own gas the carbon footprint counts for the UK, even though it makes no difference to the environment. North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen said: “We have got to use our fossil fuels to buy us time to go to Net Zero.
“We have 50 years of supply of gas which we can sell to Europe so they are less reliant on Russia. It gives us the 10 years needed to build a modular nuclear power supply.”
Mpvirginia Crosbie had no doubt what she wanted to see in the energy strategy.
She said: “Nuclear, nuclear and more nuclear is what I want, with a good proportion of it on Anglesey to give my constituents the jobs and investment they need.
“To have energy security, a broad mix of nuclear and renewables is the answer.” Rother Valley Conservative MP Alexander Stafford said the country needs to “crack on” with a new generation of small and medium-sized nuclear reactors.
He said: “The most important thing is resilience, so that we wean ourselves off dodgy hydrocarbons from dodgy dictators.”
There is support for a different approach from trade union activists. Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB, wants to see a portion of the gas produced by the UK ringfenced to meet the country’s energy needs.
He said: “Staggering energy price rises are the kick in the teeth so many have been dreading. But there is another way – one that secures lower prices for consumers and better jobs for working people.
“We are a gas-producing nation with a world-class energy supply chain but years of failure to secure these critical assets are coming back to haunt the UK. Unlike so many other countries, we do not have a cap on the amount of gas we send overseas – a decision that has left us vulnerable to rapid increases in international energy prices.”
Andy Mayer, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “The Government must stop dithering and start drilling. The short-term solution to high prices is more supply, and there’s enough for 50 years under our feet.
“Fracking uses 450 to 700 times less land than wind and solar for equivalent power.
“The taxes raised on it can be used to fund future energy, ensuring long-term security, affordability and decarbonisation.”
However, the liberal Conservative thinktank Bright Blue wants the country to work towards “fully phasing out taxpayer support for fossil fuel projects” and is pushing for the UK’S export credit agency, UK Export Finance, to support “more renewable energy projects overseas, to eliminate UK and Western reliance on Russian fossil fuels and combat President Putin’s aggression”.
But Conservative Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison said the priority needs to be to get bills down. She said: “The Chancellor needs to take VAT off domestic energy and we need to look again at the green levies which account for about 30 per cent of the costs for each household.”
More than 80 people have been arrested in Essex as climate change protesters continued to block oil terminals.the protesters are demanding the Government stops new oil and gas projects. Since the demonstrations began on Thursday, 83 have been arrested.