UK political parties set out energy policy Representatives from the three major ...

UK political parties set out energy policy Representatives from the three major political parties have spoken on their approaches to energy policy to UK Member Committee of the World Energy Council (UKWEC) members in London, writes Steve Hodgson. Malcolm Wicks MP for Labour, the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on International Energy Issues, stated climate change as being the top driver of current energy policy. He also highlighted the problem of fuel poverty and the lack of access of much of the world’s population to electricity as important issues. Charles Hendry, Conservative Shadow Minister for Energy, stated that energy security is the top issue, and that the Conservatives would take the politics out of energy so that industry and investors have some stability. The party sees building additional gas storage capacity and large energy efficiency improvements as priorities. Lord Redesdale, energy spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said that biogas is a viable technology to reduce emissions, and that UK carbon emissions should be directly controlled and regulated, rather than left to the market. UKWEC is a group formed by the merger of the Energy Institute and the British Energy Association (see Petroleum Review, April). For a full report on the meeting, see the May issue of Energy World.