How can the UK become energy indepedent? (Gas / Oil)

Here are some ideas that require regulatory changes but minimal public money: 1) Decouple electricity prices from gas prices. See https://www.common-wealth.org/publications/crude-awakening-averting-the-unfolding-energy-crisis for example. This can be revenue-neutral for government. 2) Permit large-scale non-fossil-fuel electricity generation capacity. Solar, tidal, wind, geothermal. There is private capital interested in these things but regulatory barriers and local planning permission block the way. Use a national security override to enable more of these developments. 3) Permit small-scale local alternative energy generation. Individual investors can support initiatives like Energy4All, Big Solar Co-op, and more. Regulatory support in the form of easier planning permission would be helpful. 4) To help address the grid-connection problem, do a rapid study of where there is potential, even if suboptimal, for solar/wind/tidal/geothermal generation adjacent to existing gas power plants to use existing grid connections - and then force through permission to build on national security grounds. Many gas power plants are on the coast near the points where pipelines come ashore and ships dock, I would guess that some of these locations must have potential for one or more alternative energy technologies. 5) Invest in electricity grid strengthening ASAP. Can National Grid do a special bond issue to fund this? Or maybe this will require public money. Again planning permission is a problem - people don't like pylons. The government has just announced that plug-in solar is to be made legal, which will enable homeowners and flat owners (via so-called balcony solar power) to dip a toe in household solar much more affordably than full-scale rooftop solar. This is very good news!