'We have to frack like mad,' says head of British Chambers of Commerce

John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, believes that Britain needs to find cheap, reliable sources of energy and must "frack like mad" in order to power British industry and grow the economy.

Speaking at a Guardian fringe event on 15 September at this year's Liberal Democrat party conference Longworth said the country also needs nuclear and other sources of energy and hit out at the government's slow progress on infrastructure saying that future generations would not be able to afford quality public services unless we invest in projects to grow the economy now.

"We have got to have reliable sources of cheap energy supply for industry to prosper and the economy to grow and we have to get to grips with that," said Longworth. "That means we have got to frack like mad and there is an interesting debate going on about that at the moment."

He added that "economic performance matters and if people don't believe that they are in a fool's paradise. For our children and grandchildren, if we don't perform economically well compared to other countries, we won't be able to afford the quality of service of the NHS, education, welfare, pensions and defence."

Longworth cited HS2 as an example of how much money infrastructure could generate, saying that the project could pay for itself in less than a decade.

Other speakers at the event on infrastructure investment, sponsored by Hitachi Europe and chaired by Michael White, assistant editor at the Guardian, included Norman Baker, parliamentary under secretary for transport, Sir Stephen Gomersall, chair of Hitachi Europe, and Gordon Birtwistle, chair of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party committee on business, innovation and skills.

Baker opened the debate by saying that the government had "powered ahead with investment in transport and infrastructure" despite cuts in revenue budget. It was an area in which both parties in the coalition had agreed to invest, he said, adding that local authorities will have more power over infrastructure decisions but with certain minimum standards being applied.

Agreeing with Longworth, Gomersall said "HS2 has suffered from some presentational disadvantages but if you look at experiences elsewhere, like Japan, you will see its advantages."

Birtwistle said one of the biggest challenges facing the UK was building up a skilled workforce. "The skills problem is becoming so acute in the UK, certainly in engineering and the really high technical skills that a lot of companies are finding it difficult to find people to employ."

The impact of Britain potentially leaving the EU was also discussed: Gomersall said such a move would affect companies like Hitachi as well as the number of jobs that could be created in Britain. "We came to the UK because we believed it was the best manufacturing base in Europe for the whole of the European market," he said, but added that Hitachi's exports in Germany and northern European depended on having an environment in the UK with European partners which would enable goods and services to be exported throughout the EU. "So yes we would be affected most certainly if things changed. It would impact the speed at which we could grow and the number of jobs we could create in the UK."

John Longworth, Norman Baker, Gordon Birtwistle and Stephen Gomersall were speaking at the Liberal Democrat party conference Guardian fringe event on 15 September.

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