Royalties could be provided to local people from the gas that is extracted. Or they could be offered free gas altogether.
We must also weigh the value of decarbonisation against the toll of other negative outcomes on the public.
We should pause for breath, inject some rational thinking and consider the alternatives before it’s too late.
Under the current regime, the tax avoidance measure is to simply hang onto the property until death. The Chancellor should fix that flaw.
A flourishing illegal market hurts public services, businesses, and communities across the country, which suffer when criminals are allowed to flourish by poor public policy.
The thicket of perverse incentives, uncertainty and reliefs must be sorted out.
Green Finance may sound admirably ambitious, but if it means diverting capital from efficient, market-driven investments into manipulated ones then we will all suffer. Nobody has voted to be made poorer.