A letter to the PM, signed by 34 MPs and five peers, claims that pressing ahead with the fracking ban would play into the hands of the Kremlin, which they say wants to ‘stop us following this path to energy independence’. Energy company Cuadrilla is due to concrete over its two wells in Lancashire on 15 March, as ordered by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA). The MPs’ letter to Mr Johnson stated, ‘We urge you to pause and review this decision. At a time of such geopolitical strife, we cannot refrain from actions that would improve the position of the UK and its allies. We have seen how a reliance on imported gas affects the responses of other countries during the initial stages of Russian aggression.’ OGA replied, ‘Fracking causes earthquakes, is hated by neighbourhoods, would take a decade to kick-start, and won’t lower the price’.