UK energy independence strategy: what are the cabinet divisions?
Downing Street’s long-awaited energy independence strategy is not expected to be published until next week, amid wrangling between No 10 and the Treasury over how to fund it.
Boris Johnson’s cabinet ministers have a range of views on the best way forward:
Kwasi Kwarteng: the business secretary is an avowed enthusiast for green energy sources, and has made clear he thinks the Ukraine situation only makes them more important.
He has publicly suggested planning rules may need to be liberalised to facilitate new onshore wind development, reversing the effective moratorium imposed by David Cameron’s government.
Kwarteng has also previously made clear his scepticism about fracking, the controversial practice of domestic shale gas extraction. He has toned down his rhetoric of late, however, insisting he has no objection in principle, but wants to see scientific evidence that it is safe.
Jacob Rees-Mogg: the Brexit opportunities minister has urged Boris Johnson to press ahead with fracking, whose advocates have become more vocal since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underlined the arguments for energy independence.
On a recent episode of his regular “Moggcast”, he called shale gas “very clean” and dismissed concerns about earth tremors, saying they were “equivalent to a bus passing by your house”, and “not the San Francisco earthquake”.
Like most cabinet ministers, Rees Mogg also backs a more rapid expansion of domestic nuclear power. He is more sceptical about onshore wind power, however, with a small-c conservative dislike of turbines scattered across the British countryside.
Boris Johnson: the prime minister is enthusiastic about expanding domestic nuclear production. The lengthy timelines mean it will make little short-term
Read more on theguardian.com
