Cabinet drive to reconsider fracking as energy security plan
LIZ TRUSS, the Foreign Secretary, is supporting a push within the Cabinet to convince the Prime Minister to approve the return of fracking, The Daily Telegraph understands.
Ms Truss is said to see fracking as a possible route to increasing independence from Russian energy sources as the Ukrainian invasion escalates.
But others around the Cabinet, including Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, are yet to be convinced and continue to believe the safety of such drilling techniques is unproven.
The splits emerged yesterday after the Prime Minister privately made clear he was willing to think again about the “moratorium” on UK fracking that has been in place since November 2019.
Mr Johnson’s official spokesman yesterday said that “all options” would be considered for the new energy security strategy being worked up when asked about a return of fracking. The Prime Minister personally intervened to stop the concreting in of England’s only two viable shale gas wells, which could now be handed over to scientists instead.
Mr Kwarteng, who has argued publicly that fracking is not the answer to the UK’S energy challenge in recent months, was grilled on the new position in the House of Commons.
Mr Kwarteng ignored the first two attempts to outline the new position on fracking given Mr Johnson has asked for it to be reconsidered.
Pressed a third time, Mr Kwarteng told MPS: “The Government has always been clear that we will take a precautionary approach and support shale gas exploration if it can be done in a safe and sustainable way. That remains our position and we will be evidence led. This is what we wrote and said in 2019 and we’re still committed to that.”
His scepticism on the use of fracking is shared by some around the Cabinet table, who oppose a change. But others are pushing for it to be reconsidered.
The support of Ms Truss, tipped by colleagues as a future Tory leadership contender, could shape how the internal debate in Whitehall on fracking will play out over the next fortnight.
The manifesto the Conservatives were elected on in December 2019 said that they “will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically it can be done safely”.
Robert Jenrick, a former communities secretary, called for a “more pragmatic energy policy” that would ease soaring bills while the UK strives to hit net zero.
But Ed Miliband, who leads Labour’s climate change brief, said fracking returning in the UK would not make “any difference” to energy prices.
He warned in the Commons that it could “take decades” to have an effect as he urged ministers to stick by the moratorium on new fracking.