Russian Gas

Lord Lawson of Blaby Excerpts

Thursday 8th May 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

The noble Baroness is right. We need to look at all aspects of usage of our energy supplies. But this feeds into a much wider question which will take a little longer to debate. The bigger point is that we need to ensure that we have a diverse mix of energy. That is what this Government pledge to do.

[Lord Lawson of Blaby (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome my noble friend Lord Jenkin’s point about the important report by this House’s Economic Affairs Committee published today on shale gas and our indigenous resources. This is a massive opportunity for this country. Does the Minister agree with the committee that unless the Government streamline the regulatory system and unless they get their act together, this massive opportunity will not be realised?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, my noble friend is right to raise the benefits of shale, but he will also be aware that we are looking at streamlining. We have streamlined the process. We are also reducing the tax on the proportion of a company's production from 62% to 30% at current rates. The Government are doing a lot to be able to ensure that those hurdles that may hinder the exploration of shale gas are removed, but we need to follow proper procedures and ensure that we also look at all the environmental impacts of shale exploration.