What the crisis in the energy world definitely does not need right now is a Brexity row between the UK and the European Union over the supply of gas to mainland Europe.
The possibility of trouble was raised by the FT’s report that National Grid has a contingency plan to shut the interconnector gas pipelines to the Netherlands and Belgium if UK supplies run severely short. The emergency powers clearly exist, and it’s probably right that the operator has modelled every conceivable scenario. The key point, though, is that the UK would be mad to shut the interconnectors. It would be a self-defeating act.
