LONDON – You know, the British are pragmatic and often provident. But the emergency plan that is circulating in these anxious hours. Because, despite a low dependence on Russia, energy costs will soon skyrocket, with points of 4,500 euros in bills per family more than last year. Many risk plunging into poverty and there are risks of blackouts across the Channel next winter if energy is not enough.
That is why the British government is preparing everything to try to conserve as much energy as possible. There is a “worst case scenario”, a plausible second Bloomberg, for which drastic measures could be used such as suspending rail traffic at certain points of the day, but also the regular closure of government buildings and libraries. Not only that: public health has been reminded to make sure they have full gas tanks before winter. While the government has asked the food industry to prepare for the possibility of avoiding empty shelves in the event of a power blackout, for what would be a disturbing revival of the 1970s and that the Daily Mail calls it “the perfect storm” of cold weather and gas shortages for the winter.
Yet the government of Boris Johnson has not foreseen immediate measures to help British families nor has it responded to the appeal of the Liberal Democrats to call Parliament back to Westminster (now closed for holidays) given the very serious energy crisis on the horizon. After being forced to resign, the prime minister seems unmotivated and has made it known that he will leave the burden to his successor, one of the former chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and the favorite, or foreign minister Liz Truss. The two have very different economic recipes, which are sparking the debate across the Channel. Sunak does not want to lower his taxes right away because for him it would be a disaster with inflation so high and close to 11% and he has offered aid of around 1100 pounds a year per family, while Truss intends to lower taxes immediately “to get things started again. the economy “and provides less aid to rain, unlike his opponent.
But why is the UK so affected by the energy crisis, even though it is much less dependent on hydrocarbons than Russia (less than 10% of the total) unlike, for example, Italy and Germany? The reason is that about 40% of the energy, especially domestic, across the Channel derives from gas, even in the power plants, in percentages that are often much higher than many other EU countries. For this reason, despite the reserves and the potential of the fields in the North Sea, the United Kingdom often buys gas from Europe (extension of the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia) or from Norway, with the consequence that, in practice, it pays further figures. higher. Not to mention that Oslo has made it known to limit the influx to ensure sufficient energy for their country during the winter.
But the next few months are going to be very complicated for the UK. Not surprisingly, for some time there has been talk of the summer of malcoltento, which could also lead to autumn and winter, given the tensions between employees and employers and the continuous strikes announced. On Saturday there will be yet another train ride, while between August and September as many as 115,000 workers of the glorious British “Royal Mail” have even announced a five-day strike to ask for better pay. Difficult times, Charles Dickens would say.