Next Prime Minister warned not to wreck UK shale gas opportunity yet again

London, 28 July - Net Zero Watch has warned that the next Prime Minister will have to radically break with 12 years of failure by Conservative-led governments to develop the UK's massive shale gas reserves.

The campaign group welcomed the pledges by Tory leadership contenders Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to overturn Boris Johnson's fracking ban if they succeed him, but warned that despite similar pledges by previous ministers, conservative-led governments had completely failed to get any shale gas out of the ground for the last 12 years.

Net Zero Watch has repeatedly called for the UK to accelerate the development of Britain’s massive and potentially game-changing shale gas resources. It warns that unless the entire regulatory process is reformed swiftly and effectively, the extraction of shale gas will most likely be impossible for years to come.

Benny Peiser, the Net Zero Watch director, said:

While both Tory leadership hopefuls have promised to be pro-fracking, their pledges are just the first mini-hurdle in the campaign to revive UK shale gas development. The next Prime Minister will have to follow up on these promises with radical reforms and policy changes if the government wants to overcome inherent blockages posed by civil servants, green MPs, activists and Putin's useful idiots.

Unless the new Prime Minister swiftly reforms the approval process, relaxes seismic restrictions and declares UK shale gas a matter of national security it will be near impossible to develop UK shale gas for years to come.

The UK’s worst energy and security crisis since World War II demands decisive and radical action by the next Prime Minister. One of the most urgent responses is for the UK to kick-start a shale gas revolution without any further delays."