During our final years in the EU the Commission was driving hard for a common EU energy policy. The continent is chronically short of energy, with little oil or gas of its own, with an ageing French nuclear fleet of power stations, with Germany pulling out of nuclear power this year, and with a policy of running down coal mining and coal power generation as quickly as possible. The EU has to import 60% of its total energy needs. Renewables now account for just 15% of total energy required, though this sector is growing fast.
The aim of the EU policy is to foster maximum interdependence to justify EU control. They argue that putting in more gas pipelines and electricity interconnectors increases the flexibility of any given EU country as they may be able to import from others when they are short. It also greatly increases the dependence of all the states on imports and forces them to accept EU involvement or leadership in energy policy.
When the UK first joined the EEC they insisted on our substantial fishing grounds being a common resource, opened up for exploitation by many vessels from elsewhere in the Union. This did huge damage to our stocks and our domestic industry. They wanted to make our oil and gas a common resource as well, but the UK did resist that. Instead the UK allowed a range of EEC companies to have access to licences alongside UK and US oil companies, whilst landing most of the oil and gas in the UK and taxing it here.
Today officials and regulators in the UK Energy division of the Business Department seem wedded to the idea of our being linked ever more closely to the continental system by putting in many more interconnectors and pipes to allow more imports. They try to argue that the intention is to have a market to export excess wind power when we have it, but the movement is nearly always the other way with endless imports. Allied to the policy of closing down all but one of our current nuclear stations this decade as they age, and closing down the remaining stand by coal power stations, it seems clear the aim is to increase our import dependence this decade whilst trying to get renewable and new nuclear to catch up with needs sometime in the next decade.
Ministers have recently accepted that we need more gas this decade whilst we await the coming of nuclear and more wind storage systems, and accept that the greener and cheaper option for the UK is to produce more of our own. We should use the opportunity of Brexit to break free from dependence on an energy short EU and should make ourselves self sufficient, with enough reliable energy to keep our lights on at all times. Leaving the common energy policy will be a big win. The EU has to contort its foreign policy to keep the Russian gas flowing. The UK could enjoy a lot more tax revenue if it produced more of its own oil and gas instead of relying on dearer imports where foreign countries got the tax revenue on production.
February 20, 2022
Good morning.
If you want to achieve anywhere near energy independence, then you have to, for the umpteenth time, get rid of the Climate Change Act.
So who exactly is in charge here ?
February 20, 2022
Good Morning,
Reading Sir J’s post, and the first 3 comments, together with many from past days, there is a theme; Bunter is a lazy arse, has no moral or ethical compass nor any policy beliefs. His only interest is to be called PM. We know that he doesn’t want to do anything unless forced. What do we do. Bunter has only started to move in the last couple of weeks because his job is on the line; we need to keep this status.
Sir J, you and similarly drived back benchers need to be a group of 60 or so, committed to Brexit benefits and national development, security and independence. Simpy, you need to tell Bunter to adopt your recently posted proposals, and similar, or you’ll withdraw support. And these policies must be enacted in a timely manner.
February 20, 2022
+1
I too would love to know who is actually in charge.
I mean we know a load of names and organisations.
But who issues the orders?
Who decreed that Canada should go first into the planned dystopian nightmare?
I thought that the long time predictions of how we would stumble into totalitarianism had faltered because no state guns had emerged. But no worriesâŠCanada is there now.
Yet left wing destruction and rioting, burning, mayhemâŠall ok apparently.
February 20, 2022
Yes Eh, I am with you. Now that our parliament has given extraordinary powers to the police in the Police and Crime Bill, Alexander Johnson can sit on the sidelines while the police clamp down. Same with the Online Harms Bill. I am sure they will similarly find a way of confiscating our money from bank accounts.
February 20, 2022
+1
Wonder what the MPs are thinking?
If at all.
February 20, 2022
You ask who decreed what’s happening in Canada, EH. Look at Trudeau’s background: graduate of the WEF global leader programme, same as Macron. Then look at how they both treat dissent. Does that give you a clue?
February 20, 2022
And Adherne – going down the same authoritarian route.
February 20, 2022
+1
Absolutely!
A much loved graduate of THAT global school.
Plus his Dad did something similar in 1970.
February 20, 2022
As I say, I don’t see any French, Canadian, or New Zealand enforcement agent kneeling on any protester’s neck until he died.
February 20, 2022
10 people were killed by law enforcement officers in France in 2010
28 people in Canada ditto
New Zealand 0 people but a few sheep
February 20, 2022
You didnât see the horse trampling of a disabled woman?
February 20, 2022
Now compare with the US.
February 20, 2022
Where more law enforcement officers are killed than citizens who are apprehended by law enforcement officers.
Eh NHL?
February 20, 2022
+1. It’s ghastly. Davos poster boy Trudeau leads the way. Great tweet from our host on the issue, good on him. Why aren’t our other politicians doing the same?
February 20, 2022
P2, statista.com, âNumber of police related fatalities in England and Wales from 2010/11 to 2020/21â , 26/01/2022.
191 police related fatalities in England and Wales in 2020/21, 206 in 2019/20.
February 20, 2022
Your pal NHL was being specific about France Canada and New Zealand
So how is your post relevant?
February 21, 2022
That might be why, then.
February 21, 2022
Because, P2, I guess where you are all coming from, the EH, Hatman, wanderer et al. Canada, France, NZ and other countries with leaders having participated to a WEF âschoolâ are âdictaturesâ with killer police. I was just pointing out that beautiful UK with WEF-clean leaders can have a police as bad as these other countries have. Thatâs it. Sorry, you cannot figure out such a simple fact.
I sometimes wonder whether some of contributors here are simply jealous/envious not having been able to become âpoliticiansâ and have just become ⊠contributors to Sir Johnâs blog. Is that something one would put on oneâs CV?
Assuming you understand the point, is it relevant enough, P2?
February 21, 2022
Not really heffy.
NHL specifically mentioned a few countries.
You entered the fray with your usual red herring and whataboutery.
It’s what you do.
Plus a bit of personal abuse as usual.
February 20, 2022
Business Extinction and Import Substitution department.
We need to get fracking as soon as. The Chairman of Cuadrilla wrote a sensible piece in yesterday’s Telegraph saying gas could be flowing within 12 months.
February 20, 2022
+1
February 20, 2022
I see it’s gradually dawning on the muppets in Westminster that our VAT rates are controlled by Brussels through the NIP.
I’ve been saying this for the past 6 months but our host hasn’t corrected me.We haven’t left the EU when they control our tax policies.
February 20, 2022
This is just yet more curtain-twitching from Sir John.
In general, European Union energy users are not subject to quite such abrupt and steep rises as are UK ones because storage facilities still exist, and they are not as exposed to being compelled to pay spike prices.
That is because they have the good sense not to elect ideological fanatics like the UK Tories who hand everything over to their only-for-profit mates on the laxest of terms and oversight.
February 20, 2022
UK households have so far been protected from paying spike prices, although OFGEM is legislating to make all smart meters capable of pricing per half hour which would make such pricing routine. The pain of high wholesale prices has been forced onto retail suppliers, many of whom have folded through being unable to sustain the losses. The highest electricity prices have tended to be in France, where Macron has decreed that EdF will be required to endure losses rather than pass on costs to consumers. Neither policy us sustainable.
February 20, 2022
Agree – repeal the climate change act….and save the UK
February 20, 2022
a terrific first step.
February 20, 2022
+1 Mark. There is NO Will to do so. They only say this guff to get in office. 12 years and four election promises must start to resonate with people this lot have no intention on delivering anything conservative. It is a simple question of fact and 12 year record.
Same for reducing taxes, reducing immigration, reducing deficit- we had so called austerity and never did these wasters even get close to meet their 12 year long economic target!! BOE failed in the run up to 2008. As did the Treasury. Even the Queen asked why no one saw it coming!! What does it say that Brown and Darling have a better economic record than Osborne, Hammond, Javid and Sunak!! Labour big state and waste- a better economic record than this current socialist outfit! Taxes were lower as well! Even previous Tory ministers said it was a socialist budget, x2!!
February 20, 2022
Conservative Home has an article identifying Conservative âfactionalismâ. âWetâ and âDryâ are apparently old hat. There are âpragmatistsâ and âtraditionalistsâ and a group ominously described as âmanagerialistâ.
âThere is also, of course, a fourth group that is always there, composed of those who pursue personal ambition and advancement ungoverned by any set of principles that might impede those aims.â
That fourth group accurately describes the current Prime Minister.
February 20, 2022
Indeed. Self sufficiency in energy supply and provision is a National Security matter. This Government needs a few lessons on this. Another is securing our borders. Priti Useless’s article about Russia shows the public’s views on this. When is your Government getting a grip on anything Sir John? The only thing their good at is raising taxes and Partying.
February 20, 2022
If we are not beholden to an EU policy on energy, then Boris Johnson will ensure we are the front runners in a globalist energy policy – with get out clauses for China, India etc.
UK residentsâ interests do not matter to the Prime Minister. Getting in to globalist good books and giving speeches about Ukraine (with nothing to back it up) are what Boris Johnson would prefer to do.
February 20, 2022
Do not forget the dope Johnson allowed energy to be fixed with fishing!! He sold both out at once!!
February 20, 2022
“Today officials and regulators in the UK Energy division of the Business Department seem wedded to the idea of our being linked ever more closely to the continental system ….” – if only those people were subject to some control by the elected representatives of the people, a stopper could be clamped over their wicked antics. One day perhaps.
February 20, 2022
They’re all remainers.
February 20, 2022
or Globalists or traitors.
February 20, 2022
+1
Or all of the above?
February 20, 2022
No British government has addressed head on the problems of energy manufacture, supply and distribution.
We have tinkled around the edges and shown lack of understanding and competence when making and taking rash decisions without in depth research. All the alternatives mentioned are nothing but solutions and will not address the problems of supply.
The incompetence shown has allowed the rise of all the anti energy groups all now united under the green cross of the latest religion to sweep across the country and the world.
There is too much of a side industry been built up by the legal profession to fight every alternatives that have been offered. The wholesale project fear against fracking, coal all encapsulated under the Climate Change Act decrees that no progress will ever be made albeit thousands of trees and acres of land have been sacrificed to justify that government’s are addressing the solutions they created.
February 20, 2022
tt, the government hasn’t just ‘tinkled around the edges’, it has tinkled all over it.
February 20, 2022
Indeed.
You say:- âMinisters have recently accepted that we need more gas this decade whilst we await the coming of nuclear and more wind storage systems, and accept that the greener and cheaper option for the UK is to produce more of our own.â Exactly and what on earth took them so long to come to this blinding obvious conclusion? Yet still it seems the regulators still want to cap off some of these drillings one in Preston with concrete in an act of government inspired energy vandalism.
We have, it is estimated, 100+ years of available, on demand, clean, flexible natural gas under our feet and very conveniently we also have a huge & existing natural gas distribution network and efficient natural gas combined cycle generators. We also have nuclear fusion coming along in the medium term (25 to 50 years at most) too.
Get fracking use the gas, extract as much oil as we can, get some better nuclear and then use fusion. This is by far the most sensible way to go. Cut all subsidies for renewables (if they can compete fairly fine, if not so be it). Stop subsidies for EVs too. Use the money for R&D into better nuclear, better batteries, better fracking, fusion, synthetic fuel manufacture, better cheaper heat pumps, in building gas combined heat and power units, better cheaper insulation systems retro and new buildâŠ
February 20, 2022
The above plan will not even cause any additional CO2 above the current governmentâs mad expensive unreliable energy/renewables agenda. Using UK gas rather than imported is a CO2 saving, using UK gas rather than burning imported wood or coal another CO2 saving, not using loads of concrete in wind farm construction and not having to recycle them and using old cars longer (rather than causing new EVs and short lived batteries to be constructed and recycled) gives yet more CO2 savings. So where is any objection coming from? Lower CO2, far cheaper, far better for the environment, reliable and far more sustainable. What is not to like?
CO2 is not a serious problem anyway, a bit more CO2 and a tiny bit hotter is probably net benefit on average for the World.
February 20, 2022
The key to an efficient energy supply network is a safe, secure, reliable and efficient source of fuel to meet the demands.
Totally relying on intermittent power sources, or power from another country be it fuel for generation or the finished product removes any real control that government’s have in supporting our industries and commercial applications that are driving force to the success of this country’s future.
February 20, 2022
Also it would make the UK less able or unable to even defend the country if needed.
February 20, 2022
Here we go again – we should stop trading, we should pull up the drawbridge, shut our eyes and pretend the world doesn’t exist. You will, of course, be ready to explain to consumers why their prices are shooting up as a result
February 20, 2022
Gary
How on earth did you come to that conclusion after reading the article.
You did read the article didn’t you?
February 20, 2022
Don’t waste your time with obvious trolls. It is their beloved EU, after all, that has decided that it must not be reliant on the UK (such as the City) and which is blocking partnership with us in space technology and R&D (such as Horizon). What’s good for the goose is surely good for the gander? Of course we need to end all reliance on the EU – it has decided it wants to be an enemy organisation and should therefore be treated as such.
February 20, 2022
I got another great idea John, letâs slap high tariffs on imported corn
February 20, 2022
Len
Did you get this idea of tariffs on corn from your beloved EU who have many tariffs on wheat maize rye barley oats and many other similar products?
February 20, 2022
Great answer Peter.
February 20, 2022
Thank you Fedupsoutherner
February 20, 2022
P2, FuS, History, mates, Corn Laws, 1815. But to make the link would need a bit of historical knowledge, wouldnât it?
February 20, 2022
Oh my personal troll posts again
Thanks heffy.
You failed totally to understand that the protectionist EU has many tariffs on cereals.
The irony was obviously lost on you.
February 20, 2022
Personal trolls?
Hello-eeeee…
February 20, 2022
What a laugh, P2. You obviously do not know about the UK Hs Codes. They exist for practically any type of import/export products and obviously for all kinds of cereals.
And funnily enough there are new ones, for exactly the same purpose, as part of Brexit:
See âUK/Brexit HS Codes and classification correctionâ as part of the Customs info.
February 20, 2022
Hi NHL
Are you competing for the honour?
February 20, 2022
Hi again Hef
You’ve been busy on the internet again I see.
Off on a tangent this time.
Are you claiming the EU doesn’t have protectionist tariffs on numerous cereals as I said?
February 20, 2022
NLH, I am âobviouslyâ trolling the good P2, but he only engages in decent debate with Len, Gary, Andy, you and me.
You know âstraw and beamâ or âpot and kettleââŠ
February 20, 2022
Carry on heffy it it pleases you.
But I really don’t know why you post here.
It only makes you cross.
February 21, 2022
On the contrary, coming to this blog and reading P2 et al.âs âwonderfully intelligent postsâ makes my day: my daily whiff of stale air.
(Luckily not from all contributors, some clearly have interesting comments to make).
February 21, 2022
Still all cross and sarcastic as well heffy.
You know what clever people say about sarcasm I presume?
February 24, 2022
Oh P2, what is wrong about putting a few data (countries in this particular case) in a somewhat larger framework, specially when it is about the same topic?
And the âpersonal abuseââs trick gets a bit worn out, donât you think. The same with your âall cross and sarcasticâ. Donât you have a wider vocabulary at your disposal?
You should be used to it by now and not continue to play âthe damsel in distressâ.
As for red herring and whataboutery, I would think you are as good at them as I might be.
And yes, I know what âclever peopleâ say about sarcasm, unfortunately I am not such a âclever peopleâ.
February 20, 2022
The rights and wrongs of Make America Great Again from the ex President will be the subject of debate for years.
But what it did do was united the vast majority of the people to get behind the idea that exploring and extracting something they already had would benefit their country and ultimately themselves.
Go for fracking over here with the caveat that a percentage of profits will go to the affected communities just as it does with windfarms in Scotland. The monies could be spent on community projects or used to reduce the community charges.
February 20, 2022
I have to disagree. Talking about “affected communities” and offering them what amount to bribes to accept fracking is an admission that there are negatives associated with this. I would instead deny that there are ANY negatives, brand those who talk of such as liars and luddites, and insist that fracking is 100% risk-free and positive for the country as a whole. Opponents of fracking need to be challenged and defeated head-on. They are the quisling enemies of Britain and must be shamed as such.
February 20, 2022
Fair pal but I would would try any trick in the book to get fracking sorted. TĂČo many people have only one interest, themselves. But in a true and proper world you are right.
February 20, 2022
A bit like hobbling horses then? To stop them from straying.
A much maligned and always anti EU politician said years ago that the notion of European wind power sharing was about control and integration. Not Christian generosity.
Didnât work with jabs though did it?
In any case the greencr*p can not be about benefit (except to landowners)âŠprobably about depopulation more likely.
What else can freezing, starving and denying medical care achieve?
February 20, 2022
Sound ideas, as ever, Sir John. Earlier this week, I looked at Gridwatch, to find that the inter-connector flows INTO the UK were a mighty 16% of our needs. 16%! The government’s energy policy is a mess. Backbenchers must insist on change, putting security first.
P.S. O/T, I trust that Belarus won’t be forgotten when sanctions are being dished out this week.
February 20, 2022
But we have been exporting a lot of gas! Even prior to the “crisis”.
The stats don’t seem as visible as the electricity.
Given the EU threats to electricity imports should we be looking to ensure landed gas services the UK market first. Does one have to be reminded of a) Medicines b) electricity problems of relying on an unreliable EU partners!
search for article “uk-exporting-gas-depsite-energy-crisis.”
Meanwhile. Electricity price increasing by 50% and gas even more. Standing charges increasing by the same!
Someone needs to start banging heads together and keep all our powerplants open until we have viable storage reserves in place.
Or maybe “global leader program” acolytes are attempting to create popular discontent to enable totalitarian control. With trial runs underway.
February 20, 2022
No, we really haven’t been exporting a lot of gas. Please consult this chart which shows our production, exports and imports and demand monthly.
https://image.vuukle.com/9ffc6604-feed-474e-a82d-c2de2f561502-56ce3024-68fd-4fbd-a461-bee5a8a5a5d6
Most of our limited export is in summer months, effectively using the Continent as storage. That’s also the case in winter too, when weather is mild and pipeline production from the UK and Norway temporarily may be higher than demand. We have switched from having production flexibility in our own North Sea to flexing import volumes to cope with higher demand in winter.
February 22, 2022
Interesting graph. Thanks. Note landed gas.
Your image . the yellow are exports. Suspect we do not export gas to Norway!
Therefore we are likely exporting gas to the EU via Bacton. We import via Norway principally.
If we restricted exports via Bacton would we have a shortage?
Prices are set at the margin.
February 20, 2022
The EU did it’s best to strip us of virtually every industry, and now our own politicians continue the theme by making us uncompetitive and wasting more money by paying farmers not to farm (that’s assuming there will be any farmland left after building endless housing).
How is the government going to pay for the increasing imports required by the increasing population? Invite even more foreign governments/companies to take over UK assets leaving even less in the UK pot?
We are governed by idiots!
February 20, 2022
We are governed by idiots. But they are the idiots you vote for. Like most people in this country I donât vote for them, but I find myself governed by the idiots you vote for anyway. I would prefer it if you didnât vote for idiots but there we go.
It is the Conservative Party which has stripped us of our assets. They sold of our utility companies, our railways, our airports. France kept control of its. And, as a thank you, France – which is in the EU – has capped energy price rises at 4%. The idiots you vote for are letting our energy prices rise by 54%.
I can afford it. I hope your pension goes far enough. Seeing that I fund that too.
February 20, 2022
Andy, I spotted your ‘France -which is in the EU’ verbal trick. The price cap is nothing to do with the EU: Germany doesn’t have an energy price cap. France is capping energy prices because it is still a sovereign nation. We could too, and we should, though I note you don’t say that.
February 20, 2022
I wish you good luck when you achieve independence. Then you can be governed by politicians who have failed in their own countries but found refuge in the EU. Of course you wonât be able to choose your rulers, but thatâs the pleasure of the type of independence you crave.
February 20, 2022
Like the vast majority of people in this country – including the vast majority of voters – I didnât choose Boris Johnson or his collection of corrupt and incompetent cronies. So we donât choose our rulers. You – a minority, albeit a loud an angry one – choose them for us.
My vote always counted in the European elections. There was always at least somebody who represented me. I have voted in every UK parliamentary election for 30 years. Only once has the candidate I voted for ever won.
I want to be governed by people who represent all of us. Not just by those who represent you whinging pensioners.
February 20, 2022
People voted as they wanted to young Andy
They knew the rules
You just hate the result.
The biggest majority for many years for the Conservatives.
The worst result for Labour since 1935
And other lesser marginal parties also had disastrous results
February 20, 2022
Andy, I pity you. Such a sad person with such a sad and bitter attitude. Did your parents ever say no to you? It appears not, as you get rather aggressive and rude when you don’t get your own way.
Thank you for your concern about my pension. I and my husband are quite comfortable, thank you. I won’t go into detail as I am sure you aren’t really concerned about anyone other than yourself.
February 20, 2022
I don’t pity him.
Like most Remain voters, he is successful in his own right.
February 20, 2022
bollocks. Most remoaners are frightened spiteful children who don’t have the balls to stand on their own 2 feet and decide their own opinions and future.
An easier description would be sheep.
February 20, 2022
If you consider being bitter and aggressive is a sign of being ‘successful’ then it explains rather a lot.
February 20, 2022
Labour was responsible for the treat utilities sell-off to Continental interest in 2002. You are a poor student, because you have not absorbed this fact despite being told dozens of times.
February 20, 2022
French +4% is only for electricity, French gas invoices went up by 10% in Julyâ21, +8.7% in September, +12.6% in October (izi-by-edf-renov).
February 20, 2022
Only because Macron who has an election soon has forced EDF to hold down prices to a level where EDF are making big losses.
It has cost the company 8 billion and reduced their share price by 20%
Solid EU economic policy eh hef?
February 21, 2022
Not so simple P2. Look at these figures from my French electricity bills (EDF) that quote every January where the energy was coming from:
Year⊠NuclâŠ.Renew of which HydroâŠCoalâŠ.GasâŠ.. Oil⊠(percent)
2017âŠ..85.9âŠ..7.2âŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ5.3âŠâŠâŠ1.9âŠâŠ..3.7âŠâŠ.1.3..
2018âŠ..86.3âŠ..8.5âŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ8.5âŠâŠâŠ1.5âŠâŠ..2.7âŠâŠ.1.0..
2019âŠ..87.7âŠ..7.1âŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ.5.6âŠâŠâŠ0.6âŠâŠ.3.5âŠâŠ.1.1..
2020âŠ..78.9âŠ12.2âŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ1.8âŠâŠâŠ0.3âŠâŠ..8.2âŠâŠ0.4..
2022âŠ..74.5âŠ..9.9âŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ..7.2âŠâŠâŠ0.3âŠâŠ..7.7âŠâŠ.0.4..
Loss of âŹ8 bn? Yes profits down by 70%, lower by âŹ8 bn, which is why the EDF share went from âŹ13 in December to âŹ8.20 today. EDFâs EBITDA for 2022 will consequently show a âŹ8 bn drop.
And it has more to do with the cost of repairs and maintenance on EDF nuclear reactors (19 reactors out of 58 were stopped in December) (bloomberg.com 18/02/2022).
EU economic policy? Really?
And indeed Macron has an election looming in April. Is he wrong to ask EDF to keep its electricity cap where it was? Tell me of a UK Chancellor not playing with the tax system before a GE? Youâre comical P2.
February 21, 2022
Macron has forced EDF to not increase its prices to a level they need to make a profit .
It is what left wing governments do to companies they have power over.
It certainly is comical French economic policy.
February 20, 2022
I believe Zac Goldsmith said that “if we had 600 fracking rigs processing shale gas it wouldn’t make the gas any cheaper as the gas would go on sale in the international market”.
February 20, 2022
I can remember filling up a car with petrol in Bahrain and paying about ÂŁ2, so I’ll call ‘BS’ on Goldsmith’s opinion.
I would suggest, as a minimum, that the government could develop our fracking capability at very modest cost, and then make the stuff available to domestic suppliers whenever the spot price rises above a certain point. OFGEM could easily stop them from gouging the customer.
February 20, 2022
+1
February 20, 2022
The government doesn’t need to spend anything. It just needs to grant permission, and collect the taxes in due course.
February 20, 2022
So why does it cost less than 50% in the US Zak? It is expensive to move gas around by diesel ships and it produces loads of extra CO2 too. Even if it were sold for the the same international price the profits, jobs and taxes would be in the UK. With a large CO2 saving too.
Zak is rather a dope it seems. Six children too it seems (like Boris?), now very low carbon at all lets hope they are less daft.
February 20, 2022
Indeed and another convinced of the climate change religion.
February 20, 2022
Why would it go on the international market, surely it depends what is written in the licence for extraction would it not !.
I agree politicians are not very good at contracts, but surely, it would be, it’s under the UK, so UK supplies are the first Priority for any supply at a base cost !
February 20, 2022
Quite right. Zac is a nice and personable guy, but having had a few dealings with him I can confirm that, on ‘green’ issues, he is something of an extemist who is willing to impoverish people to further his environmental agenda.
It is obvious that the government can set conditions on the extraction licences to ensure the gas is offered to the UK at preferential prices, and that, in any case, it is cheaper to sell it locally than to ship it around the world. Of course our gas would be much, much cheaper if we allowed fracking, and the government should do so right away. But Zac and Boris are great mates (look at the way Boris enobled him and gave him TWO ministerial appointments as soon as he lost his seat) so it is clear that fracking will only occur once Boris the Traitor has himself been got rid of.
February 20, 2022
It depends on lack of export capacity. We can’t make LNG, and we don’t have big export pipelines.
February 22, 2022
Only if the infrastructure exists to export it and the UK government allows it.
February 20, 2022
Why is the Home Secretary claiming that the govt. will keep us safe regarding the Russia/Ukraine situation when it canât even maintain the security of our borders?
February 20, 2022
Indeed and they put very dangerous prisoners into open prisons who then cycle out of them.
February 20, 2022
+1
February 20, 2022
+spot on
February 20, 2022
+1 Hyperbole and PR
February 20, 2022
+ yes, sadly thatâs all we ever get!
February 20, 2022
See the public comments under the article. She must go as no one listens to her anymore.
February 20, 2022
+1
The comments are great.
Much better than the articles!
February 20, 2022
EH: ‘Keep us safe regarding the Russia/Ukraine sitation’??? Keep *us* safe? Safe from what, stray missiles?
I was aware the standard of foreign geography knowledge in the Cabinet is currently rather low. But surely Priti Patel knows we don’t border on Russia or the Ukraine?
February 20, 2022
+1
I knowâŠwhat utter cr*p!
But the Express and I think the Telegraph did say it..
More about influence and malicious activities than weapons.
February 20, 2022
Oh right, EH, I remember now: all that Russian influence made us vote for Brexit etc.
This Russia/Ukraine warmongering is no better than a street-corner three card trick. Johnson wants us to look there so we don’t see what’s really going on here.
February 20, 2022
Yep. Energy is such a big Brexit win that, having Brexited, our energy bills are going up by 54%. Another rise is coming in October.
So much winning.
February 20, 2022
Yep ..Brexit to blame for all those horror energy price inceases in Europe. Good job Putin wants to sell even more gas to the little club, isn’t it? So what happens when he gets cross and turns the pipeline valve closed?
February 20, 2022
Andy. You really should see a doctor. Your obsession with Brexit and your insistence that it is only the UK suffering high prices is deeply concerning. Perhaps Brexit Syndrome could be added to the official lists of ailments.
February 20, 2022
I didnât say only the UK is suffering high prices. That is the Brexitist in you making stuff up again. But it is worse here than most places because of your Brexit. Silly old codger syndrome should definitely be added to the list of ailments.
February 20, 2022
Andy. Maybe not directly but you are always comparing and trying to say all our woes are due to Brexit. It’s quite pathetic even for a young nerd like you.
February 20, 2022
A reminder: you spent 40 years blaming all our woes on Brussels.
We are 2 years into Brexit. Just 38 years left for us to be even.
February 20, 2022
nerd suggests intelligence. Did you pick the wrong word?
February 20, 2022
It isn’t any worse here. Energy prices in Spain have gone up over 50%. It’s the lifting of the price cap that has caused the huge increase to happen in one go. As you might have noticed many suppliers have gone bust because of the cost of wholesale energy being higher than what they can charge.
February 20, 2022
Brexit does seem to have sent quite a few people completely of the rails or round the bend – Adonis, Soubry, Benn, AC Grayling, Grieve, Hammond, Justine Greening, Gauke, Sandbatch, Theresa May, Major, Soames, BlairâŠthough some were rather there already I suppose.
February 20, 2022
Pray explain to us Andy, just how Brexit has caused us to have to hand out huge sums of money in the recent windy days to pay wind farm owners to reduce output, to prevent the grid being overloaded to the point of collapse by unstable excess energy?
Frankly, I would not be surprised if you claimed that Brexit also caused the normal winter storms that have battered the UK.
February 20, 2022
EU prices are being held down by Norwegian imports being re-exported via interconnectors.
Perhaps the HMG should insist the UK is comfortably supplied, maybe with a cushion. Only allowing the surplus OVER UK volume demand to be exported.
February 20, 2022
Only 5 MPs voted against Ed Miliband’s Climate Change Act; the rest of the pathetic lobby-fodder meekly trooped through the Aye lobby ….. setting us up for the current debacle.
“Today officials and regulators in the UK Energy division of the Business Department seem wedded to the idea of our being linked ever more closely to the continental system ”
Of course they are. The entire senior Civil Service and Quangocracy (much of which exists to implement and monitor compliance with EU Regulations) are treading water, using every possible opportunity to keep us linked to the EU and biding their time until they think we might be forced/tricked/persuaded to rejoin.
Why are those officials and regulators – the enemy within – allowed to subvert the UK in this way? Because this fraudulent, supposedly Brexit-delivering “Conservative” Government doesn’t have the Will to sack the Officials or even change the remit of the regulating bodies.
reply I did not vote for it
February 20, 2022
Shame on every MP that voted for the climate change actâŠ.but the biggest shame is that this government hasnât repealed it
February 20, 2022
+1
Exactly.
And how are they getting on with repealing the Coronavirus Act?
February 20, 2022
My understanding is that in March it expires unless it is renewed.
However, the government is trying to give itself powers to achieve the same totalitarian control again, via tighter online censorship and new limitations on the right to protest. The Human Rights Act, under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights, is to be replaced by a modern bill of rights which would take away from courts the right to defend the individual against unjust laws passed by a stooge parliament. A problem we saw again and again during the lockdowns.
I’ve noticed that the likes of our friend Andy have rather little to say about this. Perhaps it shows how much the Europhiles amongst us are bothered by the loss of liberty these new laws would bring. Liberty is for truckers?
February 20, 2022
+1
Thanks!
Yes that Bill of Rights sounds uber communistic âŠnot good at all!
February 20, 2022
I know, much to your credit. But then you, Sir John, do not qualify for the description “lobby-fodder.” Most of the rest do.
February 20, 2022
+1
February 20, 2022
I read today that wind power generators are being paid not to supply, because the grid can’t cope. Those payments ending up on consumer bills.
So we need the interconnectors because the wind power is being generated in the wrong place.
Why can’t they use the spare power to smelt aluminium? Or perhaps synthesize petrol, so we don’t have to cause the ecological disaster of ethanol production.
February 20, 2022
Spare power should be used to produce green hydrogen. Given our increasing use of this power source it would be sensible to produce it this way, and you would have thought that a government keen on its use would legislate accordingly. But Boris is such a complete cretin and can’t even do this.
February 20, 2022
Dave Andrews & X-Tory :
Aluminium Smelting : You canât run such a factory on intermittent power, just as you wouldnât want an ev which sometimes had power and sometimes not depending upon the wind that day.
Green Hydrogen : The efficiency of electricity to green hydrogen and back to electricity is a maximum of 36%. So, when coupled with the cost of storage, the price of the hydrogen produced electricity is more than three times more than the cost of the original electricity. Itâs not economically viable.
February 20, 2022
There can’t be any more expensive electricity than paying for it not to be produced at all.
February 20, 2022
Actually it is cheaper to curtail than to store as soon as you have to store for more than a day or so. Storage is very expensive unless it is regularly being turned over.
February 20, 2022
No Richard, that is a nonsensical argument.
i. The cost of the electricity has already been paid for. The alternative to producing green hydrogen with it is to do nothing and waste it. That is too stupid for words.
ii. The efficiency of 36% that you quote is a lot better than the efficiency of, say, solar panels, which we currently have to subsidise.
iii. The hydrogen is needed for various uses, from trucks to trains, so if we don’t produce it from surplus, effectively ‘free’, wind power than we would have to buy it and pay more for it.
Your opposition to using surplus wind power to produce hydrogen is based on your (understandable) dislike for both of these, but you are being irrational and not facing facts. The government is NOT going to change its policy. Wind power and hydrogen are here to stay whatever you think. So we need to accept reality and try to persuade the government to use these more efficiently instead of trying, hopelessly, to oppose them.
February 21, 2022
1) The cost of the electricity is paid for via constraint payments often on top of the cost of generating electricity closer to where it is being used. Many constraint payments arise because there isn’t enough expensive transmission capacity with pylons marching over the countryside – another big cost, especially if it is only used intermittently.
2) The constraint payment helps to defray the cost of the wind farms, so if you wanted to store the surplus you would have to charge the storage facility the same price, or have consumers subsidise the input to the same value. It is not a free input. This will become increasingly evident as we add more capacity, and more output will end up surplus to demand – it means that the cost of adding wind generation that produces a ,anger and larger surplus becomes higher and higher for its usable output. Given the round trip efficiency, the output cost is already three times higher before you invest a penny to make it happen.
3) Producing and storing hydrogen, and then converting it back to electricity is also not free. In fact it is extremely costly, especially since both electrolysis and generation assets would get low utilisation, which also lowers their efficiency as well as needing higher prices to pay for the assets from reduced running hours. The storage has to be located where the geology is favourable for salt caverns, or in depleted offshore fields, requiring new pipelines for the hydrogen, and more transmission lines for the surplus to get it to the electrolysis plants.
4) Unless you invest in very large storage capacity and massive surplus wind capacity to feed it you will still end up having to have an alternative backup capable of supplying close to 100% of demand to cover periods of Dunkelfkaute anyway. So you end up investing three times over and more. It’s much cheaper to have the backup capacity without all the surplus wind generation and other paraphernalia. It’s also much cheaper and much more efficient to use hydro for storage. The problem is that there are limited sites that can be exploited, and even if you flood large areas of the Scottish Highlands the storage capacity is still rather limited.
We are only looking at storage at all because the level of wastage from surplus wind will start to become embarrassing and costly. Green hydrogen is a Heath Robinson contraption that might vaguely work to some degree, but you would never build it voluntarily.
February 22, 2022
At times the marginal price can outweigh the 36% efficiency depending on the relative prices. Some costs are already spent or sunk. As long as we have the plant capacity to use it.
February 20, 2022
Aluminium smelting requires a cheap and continuous supply so that the pots do not solidify and have to be replaced at great cost. Wind farms do not give you that. It also needs to be somewhere where the activity won’t incur massive carbon taxes, as the process turns carbon anodes into CO2. These days a lot of production has moved to China, using cheap but reliable coal fired power, and where there are no carbon taxes.
February 20, 2022
Independence is something this government can’t get to grips with. Boris can’t see beyond the trees or should we say turbines? The repercussions from net zero are going to destroy this country. I’ve just been reading about the dire conditions being experienced by people in the Congo having to work in mines controlled very often by Chinese companies. It’s a disgusting industry and used by all the big names like Tesla, Mercedes Benz etc. China is buying up many American and European mining companies too and will have almost complete control of this industry. Net zero is not working for many.
February 20, 2022
+1
February 20, 2022
+1 Fus. Cobalt, mined by children in the Congo!
February 20, 2022
All your recent posts Sir John, clearly indicate that we do not have a Brexit winning Conservative government. It is over populated with two-faced remainers dragging their feet and following their quangos and so called authorities to dictate EU policies and damage our opportunities
Lord Frost stepping down was entirely due to these 2-faced b—ers destroying this country. Long may he carry on exposing them with his articles. I also believe you could be more direct Sir John and get the PM back on track.
February 20, 2022
Yes, Lord Frost is showing his faith in Brexit by resigning as the Minister responsible for delivering the Brexit agreement which he personally negotiated and hailed as a huge triumph for Britain, and instead sniping from the sidelines and suggesting vague policies which can’t be achieved in the real world. How lucky we are to have Lord Frost’s wisdom to call on!
February 20, 2022
Farage, they’re all interchangeable on that point.
February 20, 2022
Lord Frost made it clear that he resigned because our cowardly and treacherous pro-EU prime minister (my words, not his!) could not be persuaded to do the right thing from within government. So clearly those who pin their hopes on the wet and weak Jacob Rees-Mogg are putting hope before experience and will be sadly disappointed.
If Boris cannot be persuaded from within then he must be persuaded from without, or just kicked out and replaced. Unfortunately the Tory backbenchers are doing neither of these things, which is why we – as a people and as a country – are completely screwed. But Brexit, like a darling puppy, is for life, not just Christmas, and we must hope that the next government will do a better job of taking advantage of all the opportunities it presents us with.
February 20, 2022
Stop Starmer and Whitehall using all and every method available or else he and they will take us back into the EU if he becomes PM and John’s dreams will turn to dust in an instant. The worry is that the ‘line of least resistance’ Tory party does threaten such an eventuality.
I understand why Tory MPs act in a cowed fashion. Labour thugs have developed a sinister culture of fear and nervousness that encourages obedience even from their political enemies. Therefore important issues that have the potential to destroy Labour’s competence refuse to be discussed
The Tory party’s embrace of Labour’s position across all areas in effect exposes us all to cancellation
When will people realise that the Tory party’s capitulation to Labour’s politics is an existential threat to the UK?
February 20, 2022
It would be a step in the right direction were an independent energy policy to be defined in post Brexit UK. My suggestion is:-
Reversion to UK gas both sea and land sourced for heating, cooking, and electrical generation.
Wind generated electricity to be seen as a backup not a front line supply. Maybe useful in producing hydrogen in the future.
Using our own coal where it is necessary to use coal.
Rapidly developing SMRs as a main source of electricity generation.
Longterm putting maximum effort into Fusion Energy developement.
In terms of transport drop the rush to nett zero. Offer direction, but stop trying to force impractical and very expensive change. If electric vehicle were given away they would still be impractical for anything but shopping.
From the way you describe the powerbase of the EU it is an enormous export opportunity for Rolls Royce esspecially if manufacture is set up in a northern freeport.
February 20, 2022
I hate to tell you, but US âNuScale andâ Romanian âNuclearelectrica join forces to accommodate the first deployment of SMRs in Europeâ, 03/11/2021, thediplomat.ro
new.sfen.org , 28/09/2021, âProjet du premier SMR françaisâ and âNuWard, le futur SMR françaisâ et lemondedelenergie.com, 12/10/2021, âNuclĂ©aire: Macron annonce un investissement dâun milliard dâeuros dâici a 2030â.
And further afield, cfact.org âSmall modular reactors: designing nuclear energy for African landscapesâ, 23/11/2021 gives details of the SMR development in South Africa.
So, RR can expect some competition.
February 20, 2022
Shouldn’t that be a PRM in France? Petit RĂ©acteur Modulaire.
RR should be keeping their eye out for partnerships and plans for global market opportunities. Moltex is another company worth keeping an eye on. I’d steer clear of the French given their current track record over EPRs. âŹ1bn doesn’t buy you 4% of Hinkley Point.
February 20, 2022
Competition is good.
February 20, 2022
Today officials and regulators in the UK Energy division of the Business Department are either totally incompetent or actively working against our best interests – Which is it?
February 20, 2022
Bryan. I’d say both. What other conclusion can we reach when we see blatant damage being done to the UK?
February 20, 2022
Bryan. I’d say both. What other conclusion can we reach when we see so much damage being done to our country?
February 20, 2022
Too true Sir J.
What is the chance that other MPs will agree with you in sufficient numbers to change Government Policy?
February 20, 2022
None, unfortunately. Too many have been given minion jobs in the Government to buy their silence. MPs should be given a free vote, not forced to toe a line with which they disagree, under threat of being sacked or having to resign.
February 20, 2022
OMG!
The EU wants us to have a second ReferendumâŠin the name of democracy.
PleaseâŠNO!
February 20, 2022
No it doesn’t. Pure fiction. The UK has left the EU, end of story …. except for how badly it is going
February 20, 2022
Not us, we have left, but any other EU country that dares to vote to leave and invoke article 50. This follows the usual EU line of vote and vote again until you get the right result.
February 20, 2022
Everhopeful. I’m going back to bed!!
February 20, 2022
+1
Donât blame you!
Hope it isnât the case butâŠ
From Mucia Today
Date Published: 18/02/2022
âEU proposes second Brexit referendum
Europe wants another vote to confirm Britonsâ âfinal decisionâ
And from The Express
âHave your say: EU wants Britain to hold a second Brexit vote – should we?
THE EU has suggested another Brexit referendum could be a “demographic safeguard” to confirm what the UK public wants. So, should another vote be held? Have your say here!â
By JAMES GRAY
11:06, Fri, Feb 18, 2022 | UPDATED: 13:23, Fri, Feb 18, 2022
Is this why Boris has been dragging his feet?
February 20, 2022
I don’t want the UK to rejoin until most of those who voted Leave are gone.
It would be very bad for the European Union – if they’d even take it.
February 20, 2022
But a referendum would be funny.
February 20, 2022
You’ll be dead. My offspring – Leave voters – will live longer than 30 years – will you?
February 20, 2022
Would that apply to any countries that voted “Yes” to the EU after getting it wrong?
Perhaps all net paying countries should be required to vote to continue within the federal state.
February 20, 2022
I am sure that today P2 will buy the Sunday Times to read its front page and page two item âThe wealthy donors with PMâs ears: Billionaires join secret advisory boardâ.
The good thing (if he does) will be that he might refrain afterwards from asking proof from some commentators on this blog, as he appears to always be âas innocent as a new-born lambâ or as is more commonly said âas t***k as a p***kâ.
February 20, 2022
Thanks for the mention heffy but very sad you descend to childish abuse by assuming what my views on this topic might be.
PS
Do you think very successful business people should not be allowed to give any help or advice to governments?
February 20, 2022
Yeah looks like you have a troll
February 20, 2022
I’m buying a spray off the internet Glen
Let’s see if it works.
February 20, 2022
Having our own resources and not using them for the benefit of the country takes a special kind of stupid. Either that or Alexander and his government are working actively and deliberately against all our interests. Not even the excuse of a small majority. It’s 80 seats for goodness sake!
Even more mind bogglingly stupid is to rely on an energy short EU to supply our own energy shortage.
February 20, 2022
Why do we Brits have to pay World Market Prices for our Gas Oil and Coal. As I understand it the UK owns the right to the natural assets below the surface of our landmass and maritime waters. We sell the right to survey it and extract it. Why do we not control the volumes extracted and the price at which the product is sold to the UK consumer. The present situation appears to allow the extracting company to sell on the World market at vast profit while leaving the UK users forced to buy at the same currently inflated prices. Hence the fuel crisis.
I believe thd Norwegians have had tbe sense to create a vast social investment fund from their share of fhe North Sea. Why do we suffer so called government that is so commercially inept and incompetent. The attitude of government to the intellectual and mineral assets of the UK is blighted with a short termism that prefers to spend rather than invest. They fail to get the principals correct never mind their actions. We are governed by a bunch of chancers.
February 20, 2022
Only oil is really directly subject to global markets, because tankers can move the oil to whoever wants it for the most part. Shuttle tankers that load at offshore fields are more specialised, and only have a limited range before they must scurry back to keep production going. Refineries optimise by buying the grades of oil that best suit the patterns on demand they face in the light of their own level of flexibility and prices at which they can trade resulting product surpluses and deficits. Foreign refineries may see more value in some UK production and therefore will pay a better price for it. Only in circumstances of severe market shortage might it make any sense to interfere in normal market optimisation.
Almost all our gas lands in the UK and is sold here. The exception is a couple of small fields that happen to be close to Dutch pipelines. We have very limited export capacity to Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium, with the Continent being used effectively as offshore storage, exports being confined to warmer weather when demand is low, being offset by imports when demand is high. Our big exposure comes from the need to import LNG, since tankers will be routed to other markets if they pay more after shipping costs. The way round that is to produce our own.
February 20, 2022
We are continuing to export “gas” to the EU via the connector. Just control the flow out so only an excess to UK demand is met. We may have to have discussions with partners concerned to smooth the relevant law changes.
February 20, 2022
Well, noboby can now say, i didn’t know what i was voting for.
February 20, 2022
I suspect many people voted for their choice of policies where such choice was offered among politicians with a reasonable chance of being elected. Beyond that, they would aim to argue for a change in policy, and to support politicians who share similar outlooks. That is where many of us are. Very few would agree with all the points of a party manifesto unless they wrote it themselves.
February 20, 2022
I am disturbed by Labour’s sudden focus on ‘terrorists’ and their policy of ‘shoot before asking questions’.
We can see what is happening in the US and Canada in which Trump voters, anti-CRT parent, Anti-CV19 mandate supporters and Canadian truckers and supporters are now routinely criminalised as ‘terrorists’ while real terrorists are being portrayed as victims of systemic racism. These lies and the purging of the actual meaning of words is beyond sinister
Tory MPs must condemn in the strongest possible terms Raynor, Starmer and Streeting.
Labour is evil and their evil is not being exposed. It will have catastrophic consequences for all peace loving, moral human beings who simply a civil life without being dragged into their poisonous politics of Stalinist condemnation
February 21, 2022
I believe the game is for them to be seen as tough on crime and try and get the Tory’s to out do them, as they have just about done on everything else thus far.
February 20, 2022
12.45 p.m. 17.9% of electricity being imported.
South coast invaders today, probably not a record.
Five-year-olds injected, a work in progress.
February 20, 2022
Not good is it
February 20, 2022
“the aim is to increase our import dependence” – Given the way that the EU are treating the UK – their obvious hatred for us and their clear wish to harm us – I think that in all our dealings with the EU we should ask ourselves one simple question: ‘would it have been a good idea to do this with Germany in 1938’?
We need to MINIMISE all reliance on the EU, not just in terms of energy but also food and manufactured goods. We need to be completely independent. Only that way lies true freedom and security.
February 20, 2022
I see that IDS is have a moan about VAT on domestic fuels and that you cannot have the VAT cut in Britain because of N Ireland is under EU VAT rule’s, so why not give a carbon tax cut to N Ireland domestic fuels and then go ahead with the VAT cut in Britain, maybe a campaign for that in parliament or may you find out then that carbon tax also come under the EU jurisdiction as well in N Ireland.
February 20, 2022
apply a Government national Discount of 5% – think outside the box for God’s sake !
February 20, 2022
Sir John, you must change the titles of your pieces. Someone, maybe even ‘Boris’, may quote you as writing about wins with the intention of fooling those who just look at the titles.
Truth is as we know these are fails and losses. We are still u der EU control.
Your government leaders – your party people to whom you are totally loyal – are doing nothing other than deceiving the people, and you are helping
February 20, 2022
That just about sums up the current political situation
February 20, 2022
Guardian 05/10/2021 :
âThe EU could hit Britain and Jerseyâs energy supply over the UKâs failure to provide sufficient fishing licences to French fishers, Franceâs EU affairs minister has said.â
It is quite clear that we need to be energy independent and the only reason we were never publicly threatened before was because our Marxist fifth column in the civil service always did as the EU requested.
February 20, 2022
âToday officials and regulators in the UK Energy division of the Business Department seem wedded to the idea of our being linked ever more closely to the continental system by putting in many more interconnectors and pipes to allow more imports.â
This is not a surprise even though we need to start with far more interconnectors within the UK itself. Two examples :
The CEO of Scottish Power Energy Networks, when giving evidence to the HoL Industry & Regulators Committee on 12/10/2021, said that the current north-south transfer capacity is 6.6GW and by 2030 we need that to be increased to between 15GW and 20GW to cope with all the new windmills and there is a âsystemic riskâ by not getting the building of this extra capacity approved by Government in time, including a cost to his customers of ÂŁ300m in constraint payments for just a 9 month delay.
According to the Scottish edition of the Daily Express, the Griffin wind farm in Perthshire, which was the official electricity supplier to the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, received ÂŁ500K in constraint payments during the conference to reduce generation due to low local demand and weak grid connection between the wind farm and the majority of the gridâs consumers.
The large costs of building additional electricity transfer capacity are another of the windmills hidden costs.
February 21, 2022
Sizing the transmission links to cater for maximum potential output is extremely wasteful, as they are unlikely to be fully used, since if it is that windy there will be surplus power across much of Europe at the same time. We will simply end up with some exports at negative prices and still large amounts of curtailment of unsaleable (even at negative prices) surplus. SPEN are simply trying to hoodwink legislators into a large asset base with a guaranteed return.
We desperately need a proper debate about proposals to build more and more increasingly useless wind farms with a proper understanding of the consequences.
February 21, 2022
Whilst we still need fossil fuels during global transformation attempts, UK must have security of self supply.
This is blindingly obvious! Householders and businesses will see the impact of massive energy price rises, reducing their spending on everything else and prolonging substantial inflation (Rishi needs to worry). It is an existential threat now, never mind net zero….
February 21, 2022
I dare say you are right that U.K. did hold on to control of it’s oil and gas when joining the E.E.C.
And I dare say you are right in favouring private enterprise and in what you say about taxes.
That was then. This is now.
Where does OUR oil and gas from our oil fields actually go? I ask because this country is in danger of being seriously short of energy.
In general, we know it is good to export but in this case surely it would be better to hang on to what is ours.
So tell the Business Department civil servants to get their finger out and work for the good of THIS country, not a foreign bureaucracy.
And is it possible to limit how much of the oil and gas is being exported?
Is it possible to extend the life of existing power stations or build new ones faster?
Isn’t there something called small nuclear reactors? Can they be built faster?
There is also, I believe the possibility of re-using spent fuel rods.
The country can not run on sun and wind alone. So stop your leader saying silly things and get to work making us a genuinely Independent Country. That is what Brexit was all about.