Sir John Redwood warned that Britain "cannot import everything" as he urged the Government to step up its energy independence plans. This comes amid an ongoing energy crisis as household bills could rise by hundreds of pounds next year. Speaking on talkRADIO, Sir John said that Britain had to ramp up plans to become "more self-reliant so we don't have these chronic shortages".

       Sir John explained: "There is an underlying energy problem and we are too short of energy.

       "We need to put in more electricity-generated capacity in this country.

       "If you rely too much on wind and the wind doesn't blow, there is a nasty shortage.

       "Can we make sure we rely on our own domestic primary energy rather than importing it?"

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       The Tory MP added: "It is not green to stop using our own natural gas but import other countries' natural gas in liquid form on big tankers coming from halfway around the world."

       Radio host Julia Hartley-Brewer remarked that the energy crisis was a "wake-up call" for many in the UK.

       She said: "We don't have the security of our supplies anymore."

       Sir John responded: "It is about being more self-reliant so we don't have chronic shortages that the world market can exploit against us.

       "We were dependent on Mr Putin, who turned the taps down.

       "And we were hit by the fact that the Chinese ran out of power and they scoured the markets to buy any primary energy they could get their hands on.

       "You can't import everything. It's important we have domestic capacity. It's much better to rely on domestic products and create those better-paid jobs."

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       There are widespread predictions that the number of energy suppliers could fall from more than 70 to about 10 by the end of the winter.

       The Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has repeatedly insisted the Government “will not bail out failed companies”

       During an energy conference yesterday, Mr Kwarteng also unveiled plans to speed up the UK’s transition to renewable energy, including more frequent wind farm auctions.

       Concrete proposals for reaching net-zero electricity by 2035 are expected to be included in an energy bill.