Latest updates: prime minister says government will set out revised policy on energy security to try to end ‘addiction’ to Russian oil and gas
Good morning. One of the key skills of political leadership is the ability to respond and adapt to changing circumstances; to recognise that as events change (even for the worse), opportunities can open up. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Boris Johnson and his government have focused on supporting President Zelenskiy (which they’ve done well, according to consensus opinion) and responding to the refugee crisis (which they’ve done very badly, judging by the same benchmark). But Johnson has also identified the crisis as an opportunity to recast energy policy, and today he has set out, in the clearest terms yet, his thinking.
Johnson has said the government will soon publish a new document setting out its revised policy on energy security. But in a long article published in the Daily Telegraph (paywall) he has today set out what will probably turn out to be the key pillars of the strategy. Here they are.
When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine the first time round, in 2014, the West made a terrible mistake. The Russian leader had committed an act of violent aggression and taken a huge chunk out of a sovereign country – and we let him get away with it.
Putin’s strength – his vast resource of hydrocarbons – is also his weakness. He has virtually nothing else. Putin’s Russia makes little that the rest of the world wants to buy. If the world can end its dependence on Russian oil and gas, we can starve him of cash, destroy his strategy and cut him down to size.
Because this strategy will not truly work unless everyone does it. The only way to force Putin to cease his aggression, and to respect international law, is for the world to stop mainlining Russian hydrocarbons – and we have to accept that such a move will be painful.
I don’t doubt that there will be tough times ahead. The process of weaning the world off Russian oil and gas, and hydrocarbons in general, will be difficult.
We need permanently to reduce the cost of energy at source – and that will only happen if our supply is more secure, more sustainable and less vulnerable to manipulation by others.
We need to take back control. Later this month, I will set out a British energy security strategy – how the UK will become more self-sufficient and no longer at the mercy of bullies like Putin.
At the heart of the strategy is green energy of all kinds.
Green electricity isn’t just better for the environment, it’s better for your bank balance. A kilowatt from a North Sea wind turbine costs less than one produced by a power station running on gas shipped to the UK from overseas. And if a quarter of our power wasn’t already coming from renewables, your bills today would be even higher than they already are.
So now is the time to make a series of big new bets on nuclear power. The 1997, the Labour manifesto said there was “no economic case” for more nuclear – even though nuclear is in fact safe, clean and reliable.
It is time to reverse that historic mistake, with a strategy that includes small modular reactors as well as the larger power stations. It was the UK that first split the atom. It was the UK that had the world’s first civilian nuclear power plant. It is time we recovered our lead.
It is crazy that we are importing oil and gas from Putin’s Russia when we have our own resources in the North Sea. It is time to give investors more confidence in British hydrocarbons. That way, we will have more domestic energy resilience as we make the transition to a zero carbon future.
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