The Business Secretary has called for accelerated efforts to “get every cubic inch of gas out of the North Sea”.
In a leaked video published by the Guardian, Jacob Rees-Mogg told BEIS staff that the UK needs to use “as much of its own resources as is possible” to boost energy security.
In the video, Mr Rees-Mogg says the government will be “handing out lots of money” to get Britain to produce more gas.
He said: “It is unquestionably more environmentally friendly to use our own gas – which doesn’t have to be liquefied, doesn’t have to be transported thousands of miles – than it is to pull in gas from overseas and if we want therefore to be both prosperous and green we need to use our own resources.”
A BEIS spokesperson told ELN: “It’s completely right that with Russia waging an illegal war in Ukraine and weaponising energy across Europe that we maximise our domestic energy supplies to ensure the UK’s long-term energy security.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer unveiled the party’s green growth plan over the weekend – Mr Starmer pledged he would double the amount of onshore wind, triple solar and more than quadruple offshore wind power to create a self-sufficient electricity system by the end of this decade.
