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The UK’s energy security will be “compromised” by the European Union, as other member states do not prioritise the issue to the same extent, energy minister Andrea Leadsom has warned.
Writing exclusively for Utility Week, Leadsom said if the UK votes to remain in the EU, certain proposals in the Commission’s ‘winter package’ would threaten the country’s energy security.
“We will be required in future to ask the Commission for approval before negotiating new gas deals,” she said. “Leaving us subservient to a group of bureaucrats who do not necessarily have the UK’s best interests in mind, and slowing down our ability to meet our own gas needs.”
She added that there is also a pledge by the Commission to require member states to take on legal responsibility for each other’s energy security.
“The wording of the proposal is clear,” she said. “If we remain to become part of this Energy Union, and one of our partners faces problems with their energy security – perhaps because of some political dispute with Russia – we will be required to switch off our own small businesses here at home and to hand our gas over under the instructions of EU bureaucrats.”
Read Andrea Leadsom’s full comment here.
Also writing for Utility Week, energy minister Lord Bourne promoted a remain vote in the upcoming referendum on EU membership, citing benefits in controlling energy costs, security of supply and investment.
He argued that “if we stay in the EU, we’re expected to more than double the amount of electricity we can import from the continent over the next five years, saving consumers nearly £12 billion in energy costs over the next two decades.”
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