The House Opinion Article | The government must be bolder on the energy crisis

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Even while staying out, the UK cannot avoid the consequences of the Iran war. Economic pain is rapidly approaching, and a long-threatened era of energy scarcity has begun.  

As a government advisor during the financial crash, I was sceptical when Gordon Brown convened G20 world leaders. But he proved the doubters wrong and emerged with a framework for action and an even worse catastrophe averted.

The energy crisis sparked by Donald Trump’s war threatens a crisis as big as the financial crash, and which requires a response of equal magnitude. This is not simply a temporary price spike. Gulf energy underpins the world economy, with Qatar supplying a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas and a fifth of all oil and gas passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

For the second time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global dependency on vulnerable fossil fuel supply chains has been brutally exposed. Even if the war stopped tomorrow, experts warn it could take years for things to stabilise. We are entering a new era of global energy insecurity that threatens living standards, economic stability and national security. Hostile powers that control fossil fuels understand the power they hold; economic hardship and public resentment provide ideal conditions for extremist politics to flourish.

The Prime Minister’s announcement that the UK is convening 35 nations to discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz is a good step forward. But this crisis is global, and Britain must respond globally.

We need an International Energy Summit, convened by Britain with the same boldness as Brown’s summit in 2009. The UK has the credibility to lead the response to this crisis, with deep energy expertise and renewable energy potential. We are also living proof of the stakes, with limited gas storage, declining domestic fossil fuel production and a population that has already endured one energy price shock in recent memory.

We could be convening major global players to secure agreement to stabilise energy markets, safeguard supply chains, coordinate reserves and speed up the shift to renewables. We could also be securing consensus that energy security is global security, and the alternative is a ‘Hunger Games’ world of resource conflict, scarcity and coercion.

We cannot have a dangerous race-to-the-bottom. If the wealthiest countries pay to hoard fossil fuels, we will all pay the price. Our economy depends on supply chains that stretch across countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Philippines. If energy prices push those economies into blackouts or recession, we will quickly feel it here too — through goods shortages, higher prices and economic disruption.

The UK must therefore adopt a war footing to protect the British people — not just immediately, but for the long term. The route to national resilience is reducing our exposure to fossil fuels, because homegrown power cannot be held hostage by dictators, petrostates or erratic American presidents. We must accelerate the move to clean power, with a modern energy system that is decentralised, efficient and flexible. Plug-in domestic solar panels should become as central to strengthening energy security as Anderson shelters were to the 1939-45 war effort, enabling ordinary people to contribute to our shared resilience while also cutting their bills.

But even if we generate more energy at home, Britain will not fully benefit until we break the link between the price of gas and energy bills. Right now, even as fossil fuel usage falls, our bills remain tied to the volatile price of gas, inflicting pain on ordinary billpayers. We must break that link so we can drive down energy costs for households and businesses.

The direction of travel is clear, but the government must be bolder. From our global convening power to tackling our domestic energy crisis, no option should be off the table – even those once dismissed as too radical. This is not simply about bills. It is about security, stability and the enduring necessity of global cooperation in an increasingly fractious world.

Polly Billington is Labour MP for East Thanet