When it comes to fuel, we must ensure the dirty word is ‘fossil’ – not ‘Europe’

Liz Truss says she’s not afraid to make unpopular decisions. Yet, in reopening the fracking debate she’s shown that she is too blinded by dogma to make smart ones. The post-pandemic energy shortage has been turned into a crisis by the situation in Ukraine; her response is bad both for the planet and Britain’s escalating debt crisis. In making both those choices, it is her decision to go it alone that will cost us all the most – and why Labour must now lead the way in showing how we may have left the EU, but we won’t ignore the national interest when it comes to working with them.

This government is determined that the way to secure our energy supplies is to strike out alone, against the overwhelming weight of popular opinion and scientific evidence. That energy companies’ shareholders will also continue to benefit from excessive profits without any requirement to contribute shows whose concerns they prioritise. Labour’s plans for a windfall tax may be the solution to that injustice, but in itself doesn’t deal with the longer-term challenge of ensuring our energy needs are met, not at the expense of the Exchequer or the planet.

Fracking represents a return to dangerous, outdated fossil fuels. It also ignores the cheaper and more environmentally sustainable renewable energy industry. The contrast with what is happening across the Channel couldn’t be starker. The EU announced a massive package of energy support, collaborating to tax those companies benefiting from the high cost of oil and gas as a result of the war in Ukraine. It is also using its combined muscle to bring down bills now and investing in cleaner, cheaper energy for the future. It is a sobering reminder that going green isn’t inevitably the more expensive option, whatever those who fear net zero claim. Indeed, renewable energy is currently nine times cheaper than gas generated electricity.

One reason the EU can be bold in how it responds to this crisis is because of the savings countries involved benefit from through sharing the risks of transition between them. Within the last month, the North Seas Energy Cooperative – a group of countries from within and outside the EU – came together to announce a massive expansion of offshore wind energy, helping move them towards energy independence and tackle the climate crisis.

This cooperative – and our decision to abandon our former membership of it – is a sobering reminder of why Labour needs to reclaim the terms of the relationship between the UK and the EU before this government does further harm. Had we remained in that coalition we too could both contribute to the global effort to reduce the addiction to fossil fuels, and also benefit from the economies of scale for the costs of renewable energy it offers. Instead, this post-Brexit conservative government is to trying to work out how to get even more oil out of the North Sea rather than work with those who share the same waters on saving us from the climate crisis.

This is not what leaving the UK was supposed to look like. In the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK agreed to cooperate with the EU on the development of offshore renewable energy, as well as establishing an ongoing dialogue to ensure that Brexit didn’t slow progress towards tackling climate change. By abandoning this, the Conservatives’ dislike for anything European will cost us all both in the short and long term.

To acknowledge this situation isn’t to call for us to rejoin the EU, or to spend more political energy and effort re-running referendums when our residents are facing energy bills they still can’t afford, capped or not. It is to recognise that, in an era when energy is becoming a geopolitical weapon and the climate crisis is ever more pressing, Labour must not let Truss’s aversion to Europe damage our national interest.

The Labour Movement for Europe not only opposes the reintroduction of fracking – we are calling for Labour to take back control of the Brexit agenda and, as part of this, commit to returning to working with our neighbours through the North Sea Energy Cooperative to help deliver renewable energy at cheaper prices for us all. In contrast with a government pursuing unpopular and unworkable policies, we should ensure that the only dirty word here is fossil – and not Europe – when it comes to fuel.