You have to pity the poor energy companies trying to deal with someone quite as erratic as Ed Davey. As he lurches from ridiculous policy measure to preposterous policy statement, people's livelihoods are trashed and trampled with the occupant of DECC apparently careless of what he is doing.
The Guardian has obtained a letter written by the head of Oil and Gas UK to Davey, essentially inquiring if he has thought through the implications of what he is doing and saying:
Webb wrote to Davey a few days later: “[Newspaper] articles reported you backing moves that would encourage investors to think about moving their money out of ‘risky’ fossil fuel assets, suggesting global emissions limits could make hydrocarbon reserves unburnable, therefore stranding assets and rendering them worthless.”
Webb said: “I must confess I find these statements unsettling. They come, after all, at a time when you and the Treasury are putting great effort into delivering the much-needed regulatory and fiscal reforms that will make the UK North Sea more [original italics] attractive to investors in oil and gas, not less. I am intrigued to understand how such opposing viewpoints can be reconciled.”
Of course Davey's words are aimed at winning votes from green-minded voters, so this is a case of doing one thing and saying another; that's just what politicians do (and why they shouldn't be entrusted with anything more important than the opening of a summer fete). But still, it can't be easy to have to deal with people like this on a regular basis.