The grotesque reality is that Putin’s murderous attack on Ukraine is being paid for largely by global sales of Russian oil. I believe it’s a wake-up call for us to become more energy self-reliant.
Even though we are decarbonising faster than any other G7 country, it’s a fact is that over 40,000 homes here in Cheltenham still rely on gas for heating. Until we complete the transition to renewables, that will continue for some time to come.
So where does our gas come from? 50 per cent of it derives from domestic production, 30 per cent from Norway and the remaining 20 per cent from global markets. Less than 4 per cent of UK gas was sourced from Russia in 2020.
But although we are far less exposed to Russian supplies than many other European nations, we still rely on regular visits from LNG tankers from the Gulf to keep us topped up.
So there are two things we need to do. First, we need to quadruple offshore wind power by 2030 reaching 40GW. Second, we need to secure more of our own hydrocarbons here at home. No reasonable person wants to take gas out of the ground, but the reality is that it is far less environmentally harmful to do so close to the British end-user than it is to load it onto a tanker and ship it half-way around the world from Qatar.
We also need to pursue other energy sources. As well as hydrogen, I am supporting the Western Gateway bid for Gloucestershire to become the home of the world’s first nuclear fusion power plant, with the potential to create thousands of jobs in efforts and almost unlimited energy.
A bid is being readied to bring the Government’s Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production to former nuclear power station sites at Oldbury in South Gloucestershire and Berkeley in Gloucestershire.
With planning, technology, and common sense we can insulate our country from the appalling and unlawful actions of others.