Why gas prices have soared and left UK facing prospect of food shortages

Published

4 years ago

September 20, 2021

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The price of gas has rocketed in recent weeks, putting several energy suppliers out of business and prompting warnings of food shortages in UK supermarkets.

Wholesale gas prices have soared by 250% since the beginning of the year, including a 70% rise since August, according to the Oil & Gas UK trade body.

So why is this happening and how is it disrupting the country’s food supplies?

How reliant is the UK on gas?

The gas market is crucial to the UK’s energy supply because of its role in heating, industry and power generation.

More than 22 million households are connected to the gas grid, the UK government says.

In 2020, 38% of the country’s gas demand was used for domestic heating, 29% for electricity generation and 11% for industrial and commercial use.

So why have wholesale gas prices increased?

One of the main reasons is an “uptick” in global gas demand as economies reopen after COVID lockdowns, according to the government.

It says this, combined with a cold winter in 2020-21 which prompted higher demand, has led to a “much tighter gas market with less spare capacity”.

Speaking on a visit to New York, Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted there were “a lot of short-term problems” caused by gas supply shortages, but he added: “This is really a function of the world economy waking up after COVID.

“This will get better as the market starts to sort itself out, as the world economy gets back on its feet.”

Russia accused of acting to push up gas prices

The European Commission has been asked to investigate the role of Russia’s state-backed gas company Gazprom in soaring gas prices across the continent.

A group of 40 MEPs has said the company’s behaviour had made them suspect market manipulation to push up gas prices.

In a letter, the MEPs said they were suspicious of Gazprom’s “effort to pressure” Europe to agree a fast launch to its Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which still has to clear regulatory hurdles that could take months to complete.

The MEPs cited incidents including recent shut-ins of some of Gazprom’s production and said the company had refused to book gas transport capacities through existing pipelines.

“All these factors allow to suspect that the record natural gas price surge in Europe in the recent weeks may be a direct result of Gazprom’s deliberate market manipulation,” the letter said.

In response to the accusations, Gazprom said it supplied its customers with gas in full compliance with existing contracts.

The European Commission said it had received the letter and would reply in due course.

UK’s wind power hit by calmer weather

Calm weather over the past two weeks has cut output from the UK’s 11,000 wind turbines, which account for more than 20% of electricity generation, according to Bloomberg.

It has meant that demand for natural gas to produce electricity has increased and Britain has turned to coal-burning stations to fill the energy shortfall.

Are there other reasons behind the gas price rise?

Other factors include high demand in Asia for liquified natural gas which has meant less than expected has reached Europe.

In the UK, several gas platforms in the North Sea have also closed for maintenance that was paused during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, cables that import electricity from France were damaged last week following a fire.

The National Grid said its site at Sellindge in Kent was evacuated following the blaze on Wednesday morning.

The fire and planned maintenance means it will be offline until 25 September and only half of its two gigawatt capacity available until March 2022.

Why have food suppliers been hit?

The steep rise in gas prices has caused two large fertiliser plants in Teesside and Cheshire which produce carbon dioxide (CO2) as a by-product to shut, hitting supply to the food industry.

CO2 is used in the humane slaughter of livestock and to extend the shelf-life of products. It is also vital to cooling systems for refrigeration purposes, industry leaders have said.

Producers have warned that supplies of meat, poultry and fizzy drinks could all be hit due to the shortage of CO2.

Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, has said the country could be two weeks away from British meat disappearing from supermarket shelves.

He told Sky News: “The meat industry, in particular the pig and poultry industry, use CO2 for humane slaughter. Eighty per cent of pigs and poultry are slaughtered using that process.

“CO2 is a by-product of fertiliser. Those plants closed, and they account for about 60% of the CO2 produced in this country. They closed at very short notice with no warning. It really hit us cold.”

Mr Allen said meat manufacturers have said they have between five and 15 days’ supply left.

He added: “Then they will have to stop. That means animals will have to stay on farms. That will cause farmers huge animal welfare problems and British pork and poultry will stay off the shelves. We’re two weeks away from seeing some real impact on the shelves.”

Ranjit Singh Boparan, the owner of Bernard Matthews and 2 Sisters Food Group, said supply issues, as well as a shortage of workers, will affect the supply of turkeys for Christmas.

He said the supply of turkeys was “already compromised” as he needed to find an extra 1,000 workers to process supplies.

“Now with no CO2 supply, Christmas will be cancelled,” he added.

“The CO2 issue is a massive body blow and puts us at breaking point, it really does – that’s poultry, beef, pork, as well as the wider food industry.”

UK

Home secretary admits illegal immigration numbers still ‘too high’ under Labour – but says Farage can ‘sod off’

Published

13 hours ago

November 17, 2025

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Home secretary admits illegal immigration numbers still 'too high' under Labour - but says Farage can 'sod off'

The home secretary has admitted the UK’s illegal immigrant numbers are “too high” – but said Nigel Farage can “sod off” after he claimed she sounded like a Reform supporter.

Shabana Mahmood, speaking just after announcing a major policy change on migration, said she was “horrified” by the 27% increase of irregular arrivals in the year to June.

Politics latest: Labour MPs attack asylum plans

Speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, the home secretary said: “I acknowledge the numbers are too high, and they’ve gone up, and I want to bring them down.

“I’m impatient to bring those numbers down.”

She refused to “set arbitrary numbers” on how much she wanted to bring illegal migration down to.

Earlier on Monday, Ms Mahmood announced a new direction in Labour’s plan to crack down on asylum seekers.

The “restoring order and control” plan includes:

• The removal of more families with children – either voluntarily through cash incentives up to £3,000, or by force;
• Quadrupling the time successful asylum seekers must wait to claim permanent residency in the UK, from five years to 20;
• Removing the legal obligation to provide financial support to asylum seekers, so those with the right to work but choose not to will receive no support;
• Setting up a new appeals body to significantly speed up the time it takes to decide whether to refuse an asylum application;
• Reforming how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is interpreted in immigration cases;
• Banning visas for countries refusing to accept deportees;
• And the establishment of new safe and legal refugee routes.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the plan was much like something his party would put forward, and said Ms Mahmood sounded like a Reform supporter.

The home secretary responded with her usual frankness, telling Rigby: “Nigel Farage can sod off. I’m not interested in anything he’s got to say.

“He’s making mischief. So I’m not going to let him live forever in my head.”

She earlier announced refugee status would be temporary, only lasting two and a half years before a review, and they would have to be in the UK for 20 years before getting permanent settled status, instead of the current five years.

Ms Mahmood said Reform wanted to “rip up” indefinite leave to remain altogether, which she called “immoral” and “deeply shameful”.

The home secretary, who is a practising Muslim, was born in Birmingham to her Pakistani parents.

Earlier, in the House of Commons, she said she sees the division that migration and the asylum system are creating across the country. She told MPs she regularly endures racial slurs.

UK

BBC ‘determined to fight’ any Trump legal action, chairman tells staff

Published

20 hours ago

November 17, 2025

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BBC 'determined to fight' any Trump legal action, chairman tells staff

BBC chair Samir Shah has said there is “no basis for a defamation case and we are determined to fight this” – after Donald Trump said he would sue the corporation for between $1bn and $5bn.

It comes after the US president confirmed on Saturday he would be taking legal action against the broadcaster over the editing of his speech on Panorama – despite an apology from the BBC.

In an email to staff, Mr Shah said: “There is a lot being written, said and speculated upon about the possibility of legal action, including potential costs or settlements.

“In all this we are, of course, acutely aware of the privilege of our funding and the need to protect our licence fee payers, the British public.

“I want to be very clear with you – our position has not changed. There is no basis for a defamation case and we are determined to fight this.”

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On Saturday, President Trump told reporters legal action would come in the following days.

“We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week,” he said.

“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”

The BBC on Thursday said the edit of Mr Trump’s speech on 6 January 2021 had given the “mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”.

The broadcaster apologised and said the splicing of the speech was an “error of judgment” but refused to pay financial compensation after the US leader’s lawyers threatened to sue for one billion dollars in damages unless a retraction and apology were published.

The Panorama scandal prompted the resignations of two of the BBC’s most senior executives – director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness.

The broadcaster has said it will not air the Panorama episode Trump: A Second Chance? again, and published a retraction on the show’s webpage on Thursday.

UK

Joseph James O’Connor ordered to pay back over £4m in Bitcoin after hacking celebrity X accounts

Published

20 hours ago

November 17, 2025

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Joseph James O'Connor ordered to pay back over £4m in Bitcoin after hacking celebrity X accounts

A British man who hacked the X accounts of celebrities in a bid to con people out of Bitcoin, has been ordered to repay £4.1m-worth of the cryptocurrency, prosecutors say.

Joseph James O’Connor, 26, was jailed in the United States for five years in 2023 after he pleaded guilty to charges including computer intrusion, wire fraud and extortion.

He was arrested in Spain in 2021 and extradited after the country’s high court ruled the US was best placed to prosecute because the evidence and victims were there.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Monday it had obtained a civil recovery order to seize 42 Bitcoin and other crypto assets linked to the scam, in which O’Connor used hijacked accounts to solicit digital currency and threaten celebrities.

The July 2020 hack compromised accounts of high-profile figures including former US presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

O’Connor and his co-conspirators stole more than $794,000 (£629,000) of cryptocurrency after using the hacked accounts to ask people to send $1,000 in Bitcoin to receive double back.

Prosecutor Adrian Foster said the civil recovery order showed that “even when someone is not convicted in the UK, we are still able to ensure they do not benefit from their criminality”.

The order, which valued O’Connor’s assets at around £4.1m, was made last week, following a freeze placed on the hacker’s property, which prosecutors secured during extradition proceedings.

A court-appointed trustee will liquidate his assets, the CPS said.

The attack also compromised the X (then Twitter) accounts of other high-profile figures including Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, investor Warren Buffett, and media personality and businesswoman Kim Kardashian.

The hack prompted the social media platform to temporarily freeze some accounts.

X said 130 accounts were targeted, with 45 used to send tweets.