Just Stop Oil (JSO) has taken the news that the government will issue hundreds of new North Sea oil and gas licences badly. The Prime Minister is ‘worse than a war criminal,’ according to JSO. But the reality is that Sunak’s announcement is a smart move: oil and gas and its derivative industries are still some of the UK’s most important and some of its largest export industries.
The UK still relies heavily on oil and gas, not only for individual and commercial transport but also to heat most of our homes and to produce our food (both to operate farming machinery and make fertilisers and pesticides). We also use it for ingredients for our petrochemical, pharmaceutical and plastics industries and to produce concrete, bitumen and other key substances used to build our towns and cities. But most importantly, about 40 per cent of UK electricity comes from gas-fired power stations.
Will the CMA take a similar hardline position on this net zero obsession taking hold at banks?
All of us rely on electricity produced using gas.
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