David Cameron has said action is needed to make it easier for the controversial fracking technique to be used in the effort to cut the cost of energy.
The Prime Minister said exploiting shale gas was “not the whole answer” to the problem of rising bills but it had helped keep costs down for households and businesses in the United States.
Speaking after the European Council in Brussels, Cameron said he had won support from Poland for his call for Brussels to refrain from imposing any further red tape on shale gas.
The Prime Minister insisted that any safeguards to control the use of fracking – the hydraulic fracturing method used to extract shale gas – had to be “sensible and proportionate”.
One of the 30 proposals Cameron presented to the summit for reducing the amount of regulations flowing from Brussels was “don’t introduce new proposals on shale gas” which the Prime Minister said his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk “very keen on”.
“We do need to take action across the board to enable this technology to go ahead. It’s not the whole answer to our energy problems but if you look at America it’s providing a large amount of low cost gas and that’s helping keep America competitive and helping to keep bills down,” the Prime Minister said.
“There is a worry that people are going to have to go through so many permits in order to start fracking that they simply won’t bother.
“So we need a simplified system, we’ve set up an Office of Shale Gas in the UK Government, we’re making sure that the permissions – you need permissions, you need safeguards on the environment – but we are making sure that they are sensible and proportionate and [Energy Secretary] Ed Davey is leading the work on that.”
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