UK Energy Sec Challenges Brexit

UK Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has outlined what she believes are the energy market benefits of staying in the European Union.

The UK on June 23 will hold a referendum on whether it stays in or leaves the EU. Rudd's view represents the official government position although some ministers are campaigning for the opposite 'Brexit' position.

In a speech in Kent, in southeast England, she said the EU made it easier for the UK to safeguard secure energy supplies. Almost half the UK's gas was imported in 2015 and – even if it develops shale gas – that would rise to about three-quarters by 2030, she said.

"We have seen how countries such as Putin’s Russia use their gas as a tool of foreign policy.... We mustn’t let our energy security be hijacked as a political pawn to bring Europe to its knees. By working together in the EU... as a bloc of 500mn people, we have the power to force Putin's hand."

She credited coordinated EU action with having driven down the price of imports in eastern Europe: "When it comes to Russian gas, united we stand, divided we fall."

"If we left the internal market, we’d get a massive electric shock because UK energy costs could rocket by at least £500mn a year," she also claimed.

Brexit campaign group Vote Leave's chief Matthew Elliott countered: "Amber Rudd's absurd claims simply aren't backed up by her own research....The EU makes our energy bills more expensive and costs us £350mn a week. If we want cheaper bills, less commission interference and the ability to spend our money on our priorities, then the safe option is to 'Vote Leave.’ "

Rudd argued that firms like Denmark's Dong and Germany's Siemens had invested billions of pounds in UK wind power, adding hundreds of jobs there, and claimed that new interconnectors would save UK households nearly £12bn over the next 20 years by driving down electricity costs.

"We’re at the site of one of those connections today: the BritNed interconnector helps to provide the electricity we need," she said. "Over the next five years we intend to double our ability to import electricity with similar new connections to France, Belgium and Norway. And there are potential new projects with Denmark, Iceland and Ireland further down the track."

Mark Smedley