RICHARD TICE: For too long, ideology has trumped common sense. It’s our patriotic duty to tap ALL our oil and gas reserves

Britain’s energy policy is a national disgrace. For years, successive governments have insisted on pursuing an aggressive green agenda that prioritizes decarbonization over domestic energy security.

The Conservatives started this with a mad dash towards Net Zero.

Labor, under the influence of eco-maniac Energy Minister Ed Miliband, has gone further and faster, insisting that Britain’s energy future lies squarely in renewable energy.

As I have noted before, this reckless strategy has left Britain dangerously dependent on foreign gas imports, often from regimes that do not have our best interests at heart. The chickens have truly come home to roost, thanks to conflicts in Ukraine and now Iran that have wreaked havoc on energy markets.

Countries such as Norway continue to extract their own gas from the North Sea, but the UK has to pay a lot for supplies from abroad.

As a result, British industry has been hit by rising energy costs.

Meanwhile, the hard-working families of what we call ‘Britain’s Alarm Clock’ have some of the highest energy bills in Europe.

While the reform will reduce green taxes and VAT on household bills, reverse a planned 5p increase in fuel duty and halve VAT on road fuel for three months, there is another solution.

We must drill for our own gas. Yes, of course offshore in the North Sea – but also onshore.

Britain has significant untapped natural gas potential. For example, did you know that Lincolnshire has a gas field containing 16 trillion cubic feet of gas? This is enough to meet the UK’s energy needs for a decade. There are a number of ways we can drill onshore, including fracturing. In Lincolnshire a much lower volume method called ‘proppant compression’ can be used; This method involves injecting sand and liquid into the rock at high pressure, forcing the gas to the surface.

But instead of responsibly exploring the opportunity to exploit these huge reserves, one government after another has closed the door, restricting onshore drilling and at the same time increasing our dependence on imported gas. This is complete madness.

Expanding extraction from the mainland, along with continuing offshore production, would provide three immediate benefits.

First, it will increase energy security and reduce our dependence on foreign suppliers.

Second, it will create jobs and support growth. Because onshore drilling is not just about energy. It’s about investment, infrastructure and employment.

Skilled jobs will be created across the country, especially in regions that have been ignored for too long. Third, it will help reduce prices. More supply, especially domestic supply without the need for cross-ocean transportation, puts downward pressure on costs. This is just basic economics.

If you don’t believe me, look at the United States. People forget that in the early 2000s gas prices in the US were significantly higher than prices in the UK.

Ed Miliband can import all the monstrous turbines from China he wants, but if the wind doesn’t blow, we need gas to fill the energy gap, writes Richard Tice

The US then significantly increased supply through onshore drilling. The result was a transformation: Prices fell sharply, American industry boomed, jobs proliferated, and the United States became a net exporter. Indeed, gas prices in the United States have remained virtually unchanged since the conflict in Iran began.

Britain appears to have learned the opposite lesson, although the latest poll by Merlin Strategy for campaign organization Seeking Growth shows a majority of voters are in favor of onshore drilling.

Conservatives should take most of the blame. While offering little more than green transition slogans, they have presided over a decline in drilling and exploration. Some of those now out of the office claim to have seen the light. Forgive me for not being convinced. You can’t spend years stopping domestic production, taxing profits from top to bottom, hindering investment, increasing dependence on imports, and then suddenly presenting yourself as the solution.

Unfortunately, the reality is that the record of the ‘one party’ led by the Conservative Party has left Britain weaker and more vulnerable to the insecurity of international supplies. Gas remains a critical part of our energy mix and will remain so for years to come. To claim otherwise is childish dogma.

Ed Miliband can import all the monstrous turbines he wants from China but if the wind doesn’t blow, we need gas to fill the energy gap. We have vast reserves of matter beneath our feet and under our seas. But for too long, ideological zeal has trumped economic reason.

I say that using our energy treasure is nothing but our patriotic duty. We owe it to our grandchildren to start drilling for this.

We have resources. We have expertise. The only thing we lack is a government that has the backbone to do this job.