We abandon British energy at our peril
That Shell has decided to pull out of its role in the Cambo oilfield off Shetland has not only raised inevitable doubts about the project’s continued viability and put thousands of jobs at risk, it has shone a harsh light on the energy policies being pursued by both the UK and Scottish governments, whose lack of support played a crucial role in the company’s withdrawal.
Shell has a 30 per cent stake in the oilfield, along with private company Siccar Point Energy, but appears to have been put off by the unrelenting and unequivocal opposition from Nicola Sturgeon’s Snp-dominated government in Edinburgh. The First Minister’s hostility to both oil and gas has only grown in intensity since, in the wake of the last Holyrood election, she struck a coalition deal with the Scottish Greens in order to secure her majority. Now, as even die-hard nationalists come to realise that independence is never likely to be more than a pipe dream, Ms Sturgeon has turned her attention to net zero, striking an increasingly dogmatic tone on climate change and putting the Greens’ co-leader in charge of meeting Scotland’s target.
Where once the First Minister had seemed happy to sit on the fence when it came to the Cambo development – insisting that the ultimate decision was one for the UK Government and abnegating any responsibility – she has more recently evinced outright hostility, not only to that field but to any further exploration in Scottish waters. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s approach has scarcely been better, at least from the point of view of those who value this country’s energy security. The Prime Minister’s lack of visible and vocal support for the development of Cambo, which would have produced 170 million barrels of oil and gas (equivalent) over the next 25 years, has been notable.
There are now serious doubts about the future of what is left of Scotland’s oil industry, which employs more than 100,000 people. A more general worry is how realistic is the UK’S target of achieving 100 per cent of our electricity through renewable sources by 2035. In spite of continued exhortations and promises from Ms Sturgeon and Mr Johnson about their shift to greener energy, oil and gas still provide more than 75 per cent of the UK’S total energy needs.
Unless the plan is to let the lights go out, we will continue to need fossil fuels as the transition to green energy progresses. Abandoning British oil and gas would not reduce this country’s reliance on those resources, rather it would simply mean having to meet our needs with imports instead. This risks leaving Britain at the mercy of countries such as Russia and Qatar: powerless if they choose to turn off the taps and all the while lining the pockets of the regimes that run them.
No room for complacency
By any standard, the Conservative Party’s victory in the Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election was decisive. The party’s candidate, Louie French, notched up 51.3 per cent of the vote in a contest caused by the untimely death of James Brokenshire. Governments often come unstuck in mid-term by-elections and so Boris Johnson is entitled to feel relieved.
Nevertheless, the slump in the party’s majority should serve to guard against complacency. There was a 10 per cent swing to Labour, but it is not their showing that ought to trouble Conservative strategists; instead they should be looking at the 6.6 per cent total notched up by Richard Tice, the leader and co-founder, with Nigel Farage, of the Reform UK Party. The Tories can well remember the damage that pair once did with the Brexit Party, their present party’s prior incarnation.
After the Bexley result Mr Tice claimed: “The British political landscape has changed tonight. There are now five parties in the British landscape.”
That remains to be seen, but with policies aimed at cutting taxes, and opposing “unnecessary” Covid restrictions, Reform UK is pitching its appeal straight at traditional Tory voters, who have been growing increasingly concerned by tax rises, looming inflation and broken promises over social care and the NHS.
The Conservatives now face another by-election – this time in North Shropshire, the seat vacated by Owen Paterson, on December 16 – where they are defending a 20,000-plus majority. Tice declared that the personality and policies of Boris Johnson were a “liability, not an asset” in Bexley. His theory will be tested again in short order.
A storm in a teaspoon
Instead of rewriting American recipes to give equivalent British measures, publishers are being tempted by the breakdown of a previous agreement simply to import books from the United States unchanged. So we are invited to take a cup of flour, whatever that is, and a quart of milk when it seems suspiciously too much. The experienced or nomadic know already that an American cup is not a coffee cup, nor yet a builder’s mug, but 8 fluid oz. To an American that is half a pint, but to us it is only two-fifths. But, to tell the truth, most recipe measures are impressionistic (apart from the blessedly accurate Delia Smith’s). Elizabeth David’s are sometimes extravagantly out. In any case, who can confidently aver that their level teaspoonful is the same as your level teaspoonful or could swear that a pinch is exactly twice a dash?