Jeremy Warner’s Outlook: A wholly predictable energy crisis looms

Crisis, what crisis? The Government can hardly be blamed for the weather but it is responsible for the country’s energy policy. Having denied for months that we are in danger of running out of gas this winter, there is a sudden sense of panic in the Downing Street air now that the temperature has begun to drop.

Those who warned of trouble ahead, such as the CBI’s Sir Digby Jones, were accused of being scaremongers. Now we know that Tony Blair was sufficiently concerned to convene a secret meeting with industry representatives nine days ago to discuss just such an eventuality.

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