End Fuel Poverty Coalition comment on new oil & gas licenses

Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

“After nearly 50 years of North Sea production, even the Government’s own figures predict new licenses will only provide a year’s worth of gas for domestic use. Issuing more licences to drill doesn’t change the geology of the North Sea or speed up the process for extracting this gas.

“Therefore, the announcement today won’t lower energy prices.

“The Government needs to stop giving people false hope. What we urgently need are genuine solutions to the energy crisis. We need to reduce our dependence on unaffordable gas, by tackling energy waste through insulation and shifting to renewables.”