Cheaper, Reliable Energy Sources Are Still A Pipe Dream

What a relief that the Government is at last thinking about energy secuboasting of how quickly Britain is going to reach net zero carbon emissions. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced a change in thinking.

- Ross Clark

As admitted in the Energy Security Strategy announced yesterday by the Prime Minister and by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, we don't just want clean energy.

We need energy which is reliable, affordable, not subject to wild gyrations on global gas markets – and which does not involve us pouring billions into Russia's coffers to subsidise Vladimir Putin's military operations.

There are some good things in the strategy. The Government wants to develop build eight nuclear power stations by 2030 one of the few forms of low-carbon energy which is very reliable and constant.

There are proposals, new round of licences for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea. For too many years the Government was happy to allow the industry slowly to die on the grounds that in our glorious new green future oil and gas would become obsolete.

The folly of that thinking has become apparent with the energy crisis.

Twenty years ago Britain was self-sufficient in energy. Now, we are importing ever larger quantities of oil and gas, some of it by ship and pipeline from Russia.