The madness of Ed Miliband’s fracking ban

The UK has been reliant on importing natural gas from overseas for over two decades .

This is due, so the authorities claim, to the putative earthquake risk posed by the method of extraction.

The madness of this situation was brought home once again this month after the discovery of a huge field of shale gas in Lincolnshire .

Every way you look at it, the ban on fracking for shale gas makes no sense. It is based on wildly exaggerated fears about seismic activity. And it is standing in the way of the energy independence that Ed Miliband claims he is aiming for. This fear-mongering green dogma is doing great damage to the UK . James Woudhuysen is visiting professor of forecasting and innovation at London South Bank University . He tweets at @jameswoudhuysen .