SIR – The Government is willing to gift yet more tax breaks to companies drilling for hard-to-reach shale – a costly gamble that risks keeping the UK addicted to polluting fossil fuels at precisely the time we should be leaving them in the ground.
If it really cared about bringing energy bills under control and improving energy security, it would put its money on renewables, where the costs are predictable and falling.
The UK’s green economy is now worth more than £120 billion – nine per cent of GDP – and provides nearly a million jobs.
According to the CBI, it is generating a third of our most recent economic growth.
Given the huge potential of green industries and clean energy generation to provide jobs and prosperity, as well as the obvious environmental benefits they will deliver, it’s time to drop austerity.
There’s no doubt that the cuts have failed – now we need urgent investment in nationwide green infrastructure to stabilise the economy, tackle the environmental crisis and deliver clean and secure energy for the future.
MATTHEW JENKINS
Worcester Green Party
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