War and virtue don’t mix well, especially when it comes to the dirty business of energy supplies. As soon as the Ukraine situation turned nasty the UK government quietly did a turn on winding down North Sea gas, and may possibly do the same on fracking.
And, having sworn off Russian hydrocarbons, Boris is now looking for urgent supplies. In doing so he is talking to some pretty doubtful regimes. Yesterday he visited Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi; he has also put out feelers to Qatar. Opposition parties have made hay.
In Scotland, opposition to North Sea gas and ‘extreme fossil fuel ideology’ has come from both Nicola Sturgeon and her delightfully titled ‘minister for zero carbon buildings, active travel and tenants’ rights’, Patrick Harvie. Yesterday it was Labour’s turn, with Keir Starmer accusing the PM of ‘going cap in hand from dictator to dictator’ and Angela Rayner at PMQs talking about the problems of relying on a ‘murderous dictator’ to keep the lights on.
Boris has undoubtedly made mistakes in the past on energy, notably by appeasing the militant green lobby without any clear plan of how to replace fossil fuels.
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