Can Labour learn to love fracking?

My heart sank when I heard that Labour-run Brent has decided to ban all fracking in the borough. There is no evidence that there are any shale gas reserves in North West London. Also because it is a throwback to the gesture politics of the 1980’s which did so much damage to the reputation of Labour.. Back then local councils got on the band wagon of ‘nuclear free zones’ All that succeeded in achieving was to create a climate of hostility to all nuclear power which saw the decline of one of our most successful industries where we once world leaders. Now we realise we need nuclear power – we are just relying on the French and Chinese to build the necessary power stations and infrastructure.

In a way you can understand the thought process amongst the Labour councillors in Brent.  Our energy policy and in particular our view of shale gas seems to be determined by a shouting crowd of Green Party activists rather than wider considerations of energy prices and security of supply.

However there is a hope of change. A combination of Ed Milliband and the greed of the Big Six energy companies has pushed energy policy to the heart of the policy debate.

Thankfully Labour local government has been at the heart of this strategy.  Whilst government ministers have talked about the impact of energy switching local government has got on and done it. Nowhere more so than in Greater Manchester where led by Oldham council an imaginative campaign saw over 30,000 households register to switch their energy supplier with average savings of £120pa. This was in welcome contrast to the campaign run by Tory controlled Peterborough which attracted barely half that number and charged participating councils £5000 to join.   There are also a whole range of local authority sponsored schemes to consider energy generation and renewable schemes that are putting local government at the forefront of innovation.

However the bigger picture is that – whatever success we have with renewable sources of energy and home insulation – we are going to have to rely on gas to supply a large part of our energy needs (and to avoid the real risk of power cuts from 2015 onwards). The only question is whether we produce the gas ourselves or rely on imports from Russia and Qatar (and by the way Green MP Caroline Lucas prefers that we continue to rely on gas imports).

But if the rest of us don’t want to pay billions of pounds to support an authoritarian regime in Russia (and a dubious World Cup bid in Qatar) we have to look at developing our own domestic gas industry and here local councils are critical – both in their planning role but also as promoters of their local economies.  Shale gas has been the subject of intense scrutiny but sadly with more heat than light (sic). What is evident is that underneath our island there are billions of cubic feet of gas that could supply our energy needs for several generations. The real question is can the gas be extracted safely. Britain has one of the most safety conscious and regulated energy industries in the world. So there is no reason for energy companies to develop our own shale gas to provide jobs and taxable income other than prejudice and mis-information – much of it funded by American coal companies

It is fair to say that those involved in promoting the shale gas industry have been rather inept (Lord Howell and his desolate North quote being a prime example) but that does that take away from the enormous economic and employment (both direct and indirect) potential that our domestic shale gas presents. However If local government is going to take balanced decisions then the current economic offer from energy companies to local councils has to be considerably enhanced. Well done to Labour Lancashire for creating an all-party alliance to campaign for a much higher and fairer share of the proceeds for local communities. I am old enough to remember the ‘canny deal’ that Orkney and Shetland negotiated with the energy companies for the development of North Sea oil and gas.

What does surprise is the silence of our Trades Unions on the subject of shale gas. There is the real opportunity to create in the North West of England and elsewhere, thousands of highly paid skilled work. Apart from anything else we currently spend £12 billion a year on importing gas. Think of the tax revenues that could generate for the UK economy.

The tragedy is that because of a mis-informed political campaign we could be missing out on a major growth industry and the opportunity for energy security at a time of great international tension. It happened in the 1980’s with ill-informed hostility to nuclear power. Are we on course to do it again with Shale gas?