why are energy prices rising in the UK, when their main sources is its own North Sea gas?
In: 428
We maintain a fiction that we are incapable of administering our own assets and must pay foreigners to do so, because past British governments made the decision that they wanted the country’s resources and assets to be privately owned.
It is possible that they entertained the mistaken belief that these owners would be British or at least pay British tax – something that is less true than many would like to see – however it’s a persistent and possibly quite true belief on the part of the British people that the main qualification these owners had was the ability to donate money to the ruling party or provide good publicity to it.
The upshot is that Britain doesn’t supply its own gas, in legal terms: it buys gas on the international market. It just so happens that this gas is extracted in Britain by British people and sold to British consumers, but financially speaking that is mere happenstance.
Britain prides itself on its low levels of everyday corruption – you do not have to tip your police officer or your exam board – but there is a persistent and possibly true belief that government contracts, natural resource extraction, ownership of large assets and so on were not allocated fairly, and the regulatory regime has been largely set up to benefit friends of those in power.
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