The country is in the middle of an energy crisis. The rising cost of energy is destabilising the economy and driving us into a recession.

The government’s relentless drive towards a green economy is unsustainable and damaging for the less well off in society and of course businesses. Shell has announced record profits and highlighted a huge investment program to develop new green technologies. To what end? A carbon neutral country by 2050.

As a country we contribute around 1 to 2 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions so as a carbon free nation it would not alter the total global emissions by any great deal.

China, for instance, has 1,110 coal fired power stations. We sit on a huge coal field which, using carbon capture technology, would give us cheap energy for 200 years. INEOS, one of the world’s largest chemical and energy companies, wanted to develop a shale gas site but was turned down by the government. Shale gas is under our feet and would supply the country’s gas needs for 42 years giving us a buffer to develop nuclear power and maybe hydrogen as a fuel for the future, but the government bowed under a vociferous campaign by the environmentalists.

The war in Europe has highlighted the need for long term energy security but the governments head in the sand strategy leave this country very vulnerable.

D Hodgson