A Labour shadow cabinet minister has u-turned on energy rationing after initially suggesting the UK Government should be planning for the controversial move.
When asked whether the UK should be prepared to ration oil and gas, Jonathan Reynolds told Clive Myrie on BBC1:
“We should be making those plans and the Government should be preparing, not necessarily in public, for that situation.
“There’s a lot of complacency in this country about the relative lower exposure to Russian gas that we have.
“But we should bear in mind that part of the supply that comes to this country from, for instance, Norway or from the liquefied natural gas that goes into the terminals and wells, that is partly because Russian gas is fulfilling the demands of central Europe.
But when asked hours later on Times Radio about the same issue, the shadow business secretary said: “No, that would be a disaster for households and for businesses.
“But the fact you’re even asking the question is an indictment of Conservative energy policy for the last decade.
“We still haven’t had a plan from the Government even though they said it was to them a priority and an emergency.
“If they were to follow what we’ve put forward – so a focus on energy efficiency, on expanding and changing the onshore wind in terms of the ban that they’ve got in place, further work on solar, tidal, offshore wind and new nuclear – that would be a comprehensive plan for the future.
Grant Shapps, the UK Government Transport Secretary, responded by saying energy will not be rationed in the UK.
Asked if it is a “good idea” for the UK to look into the idea, he told the BBC: “No, I don’t.”
Pressed on whether he can “completely” rule out energy rationing in the UK, he said: “Yes, I can. It’s not the route that we want to go down.”
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