Government's last mintue approval of fracking an example of its profoundly dated thinking

The move flies in the face of the National Infrastructure Commission's recommendation that ministers seize 'golden opportunity' presented by energy from renewable sources which could provide 50 per cent of the UK's requirements by 2030 without adding to bills

The drilling rig at Preston New Road shale gas exploration site (PA)

If you want an example of why Britons sometimes wish the people who govern them would just frack off, the way that a licence to frack, or extract gas through hydraulic fracturing, got handed to Cuadrilla provides it.

On the last day of Parliament before the summer recess, with most MPs eyeing holidays ahead of the potentially vicious battles to come, news that the shale gas extraction company had been given the go head to get fracking in Lancashire emerged.

Energy minister Claire Perry said she was satisfied the company had met the necessary requirements for a permit, the first to be granted since a new regulatory regime was instituted.

Ms Perry and her colleagues believe that shale gas could “further enhance our energy security” while “helping us with our continued transition to a lower-carbon economy”.

And yet, by pressing ahead with a controversial process that led to two earthquakes during test drilling, they are blithely ignoring the recommendations of the Government’s own advisors.

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) said in a report I covered in this column that the UK would not be able to achieve its emissions targets while relying on natural gas.

The latter might be a lot cleaner than coal, but it sill, it should be noted as Britain swelters in extreme weather that is set to become all too common, emits carbon.

It called upon ministers to instead seize a “golden opportunity” to invest in energy from renewable sources.

Those who called for this sort of thing in pervious eras used to be dismissed as tree hugging greenie fantasists best ignored by a hard headed ‘Daddy’ party like the Conservatives if Britain wanted secure its future energy needs.

And it’s true that as recently as ten years ago it seemed, as the NIC report stated, “almost impossible for the UK to move towards being powered mainly by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power in an affordable and secure way”.

This, however, is an instance where science fiction has become scientific, and crucially economic, fact. Renewables now provide 30 per cent of our energy. That figure has risen from less than 12 per cent in the space of just five years. It could reach 50 per cent by 2030 without, according to the NIC, adding a penny to consumers’ bills.

The same cannot be said of the Government’s fondness for nuclear power given the fancy prices guaranteed to the developers of a new plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset that critics fear could easily prove to be a white elephant.

The NIC report called for just one more plant to be approved. With lots of money lining up behind more of them, however, just as there is lots of money interested in fracking, you can bet that will be another instance where the Government will choose to ignore its advisors.T

When it comes to energy this Government is guilty of profoundly backward thinking.

We’re ultimately going to pay a very high price for that, and it won’t just be extracted through more Lancastrian earthquakes.