Both left and right are deluding themselves about the scale of the energy crisis Britain faces |
First it was Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now it is the blockade of the world’s petroleum artery in the Gulf. For the second time in four years, Britain is facing an energy crisis that has been made much worse because of the absence of preparation by its political leaders.
The fact is that our energy politics were conceived for a world where convulsive, global events were a thing of the past. The notion that it would be difficult to access supplies of oil or liquefied natural gas from the international markets did not figure in the understanding of the politicians and officials who shaped our perilous current moment. But even today, the advocates of energy sovereignty on the left and right appear to lack knowledge, understanding or power over this very foundational matter.
The roots of the crisis lie in a succession of choices made between the 1980s and 2010s, when British governments eschewed concern over control and ownership of our energy supplies. “Selling coal to Newcastle” went from an idiom meaning a pointless action to a commercial reality as Britain privatised its strategic energy industries, decimated domestic capacity and opened up to the international market. Valuable North Sea gas supplies were burned up cheaply and quickly in power stations while promising state support for onshore wind turbines was discontinued, leaving Britain highly dependent on imported kit in that leading new sector. In 2017, Theresa May’s Conservative government even oversaw the closure of Britain’s main gas storage facility off the Yorkshire coast at Rough (only for it to be rushed into reopening after the 2022 price spiral).
One response today has........