Cretin Miliband15 Feb 2025 02:30
“ED MILIBAND yesterday pledged a permanent ban on fracking just days after the discovery of a giant gas field in Britain.
The Energy Secretary indicated he would not change course on a Labour manifesto commitment to “ban fracking for good” despite discovery of the field under Lincolnshire that could fuel the UK’s entire needs for a decade.
Experts argue that gas is the essential “bridging fuel” needed to wean Britain off oil as it electrifies transport and heating and expands renewables in the race to hit net zero targets.
However, a spokesman for Mr Miliband said: “We intend to ban fracking for good, as per our manifesto commitment. We will update on this in due course.”
According to the modelling by the climate change committee, the Government’s climate watchdog, the UK will have a shortfall of more than 1 trillion cubic metres of gas between now and 2050. The waning North Sea can provide only a fifth of this, meaning Britain will be reliant on foreign imports to account for the remainder.
Andrew Bowie, the shadow energy secretary, said: “Labour’s ideological drive against oil and gas right now is keeping decades worth of oil and gas locked up in the North Sea. It’s stopping investment in our economy and it puts at risk 200,000 existing jobs.”