The shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero, Ed Miliband, has warned Boris Johnson against caving in to climate sceptics on the Conservative backbenches, after No 10 appeared to open the door to fracking.
As the government reviews its energy strategy after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the prime minister’s spokesperson said this week that “all options” were under consideration, making clear that included the practice of fracking.
Writing in the Guardian, Miliband warns against “doubling down on fossil fuels through a fracking-style dash for gas, which some on the Conservative benches are proposing”, and calls instead for a “clean energy sprint” towards renewables.
“We don’t have time for more of the government’s ideologically driven failure, nor their failure to take on the deniers on their backbenches. They play the climate hokey-cokey and we end up with climate delay,” he said.
Johnson has promised to publish an energy independence plan, setting out the government’s approach to phasing out imports of Russian oil – and potentially gas. It is expected to include a focus on renewables, nuclear power and North Sea gas.
At prime minister’s questions this week Johnson said the plan would appear “in the course of the next few days”, but government sources now suggest it may come after the chancellor’s spring statement on 23 March.
The Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs, chaired by Craig Mackinlay, has been increasingly vocal in challenging the government’s green policies. The group recently called for the removal of VAT on fuel bills and the green levies paid by households, as well as the resumption of fracking in the face of rapidly increasing oil and gas prices.
The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, is known to be unenthusiastic about fracking, but said on Wednesday he had agreed with the prime minister that it did not make sense to concrete over fracking wells in Lancashire operated by the energy firm Cuadrilla, which were due to be closed.
He told MPs the government’s position since 2019 had been to take “a precautionary approach that supports shale gas exploration if it can be done in a safe and sustainable way”.
Miliband also called on the government to take action on “the Cinderella of this government’s energy policy: home insulation and energy efficiency”, adding “the best way of reducing our demand for fossil fuels is to reduce energy demand overall”.
On Friday, the former Tory minister Rory Stewart called for “a government and civilian effort equivalent to the Covid response” to cut energy demand, including reducing the speed limit to 50mph and making all public transport free.
Ministers have been more focused on demand in recent days, however. With imports of Russian oil due to be phased out by the end of the year, and the government looking at ending Russian gas imports, Kwarteng has met with the oil ministers of potential alternative suppliers, including Saudi Arabia.
Ramping up imports from the Gulf state would be controversial, given Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s alleged role in approving the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, Layla Moran, said: “Britain is stuck in between a rock and a hard place because this government kicked the can down the road when it came to securing homegrown energy. If Boris Johnson is forced to cosy up to Saudi Arabia for more oil he will only have himself to blame.
“By cutting support for domestic renewable energy the government is now forced to go begging around the world for more tainted oil.”
• This article was amended on 12 March 20202. The original version described Ed Miliband as the shadow energy secretary. His correct job title is shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero.
