Member

We are not linked to world gas prices. If we developed our own reserves by applying the right regulatory fiscal regimes, we would encourage companies to tie back additional production now—not in five or 10 years but now—with the gas being linked, at negotiated prices on long-term contracts, to major industrial users in the UK. I can tell noble Lords that that is the case because, at the turn of the century, I established with colleagues Consort Resources, which had southern basin gas assets. We negotiated the long-term contracts with the market in the UK—none of it went internationally. It was tied back straight to the UK through long-term contracts, which is precisely what we should look at as a country at the moment. Instead, the Government have tried to move the costs of intermittent renewables on to people’s tax bills. Ordinary working people are facing higher taxes on their income and pensions, and their small businesses and student loans are paying for the subsidies. It is in the Minister’s gift to change the subsidy arrangements, as this statutory instrument shows can be done.