The Telegraph: Can shale gas bring the same benefits as North Sea oil? Only one way to find out
It’s still too early to say whether shale gas has the potential to reinvigorate the UK economy, in the same way as North Sea oil did in the 1980s, and it perhaps already is transforming the much larger US economy. But we are not going to find out until more testing and drilling is allowed, so it is vital that subject to obvious safeguards, the barriers to development should be dismantled as quickly as possible.
As ministers are only too aware, the economy needs some sort of boost, and I’m not thinking here about renewed calls for some sort of debt-fuelled fiscal stimulus. In itself, austerity is not the problem in Western economies; rather, it is lack of competitiveness, and in the eurozone’s case, an artificial construct which has removed the natural market remedy of currency realignment.
With still the highest deficit in Europe, the UK economy needs an even bigger one like a hole in the head. What it does need to get growth going again is supply side and structural reform; removing obstacles to exploration and development of new sources of gas supply must be a key part of any such agenda. MORE