Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said the UK’s high energy costs are harming the economy and called for drilling to start in the North Sea.
Speaking on GB News Iain Duncan Smith said:
“I think this is just a lot of hooey that has been pumped at you.
“First of all, the international, global market is hugely set by the costs that it takes to turn normal gas into a liquid – LPG, then to put it on a tanker somewhere. All the costs of that, to ship it to another market, then unscramble it, make it back into a gas, which is expensive again, and pump it into that market.
“If it’s North Sea oil and gas, or even fracking, which I have to tell you, I absolutely do believe we should be looking at carefully, what it does is you get the gas, it comes down a pipe and it goes straight into the system here in the UK, which is why Norway pays less domestically for their gas.
“It’s why America, the economy is booming, because they use their local gas. They don’t have to turn it into LPG; it goes through the pipe structure, and it goes into homes and businesses.
“And our problem right now is with this obsession by Miliband and co with Net Zero. Net Zero, by the way, only affects up to 20% of our energy needs. So let’s be clear about this, we need oil and gas.
“Now we tax hugely, 60%, so the government could, at the pump, reduce some of that, which would take the burden off people.
“But also, more importantly, I think it’s necessary to say that the reason why the American economy is booming so much, it’s because they discovered domestic reservoirs of gas, which they are now using and they have driven the cost of energy down.
“We have the highest energy costs in the world, and it’s due to this obsession with expensive net zero energy.
“And the point about net zero energy is you can’t store it and you can’t sell it on. So the reality is we’re stuck with expensive energy for 20% of our grid. What we need now is to drill for gas and oil and be sensible.
“I disagreed with [Net Zero] all the way along the line. I sometimes think that no matter who’s in government, I’m in opposition. But the reality is that I oppose this. Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve said it’s wrong, look at America. America’s economy is booming.
“Our economy is in deep trouble, and the costs of running a business in Britain are hamstrung by these charges and by the cost of the energy that they are forced to use.
“If we only used our oil and gas, people would be better off and they would not have these crises, because it would be our oil and gas, not coming from some foreign country.”
