Peak oil: why did Labour deny the facts?

Following a long battle using Freedom of Information it has been confirmed that the government was warned in no uncertain terms by its own civil servants two years ago that there could be "significant negative economic consequences" to the UK posed by near-term "peak oil" energy shortages. The response was the Wicks review into energy security which effectively dismissed peak oil as alarmist and irrelevant. See Guardian here and George Monbiot here - although no one seems at the moment to be able to answer why Labour denied their own official reports. More importantly it means the government must act with all haste to address the situation. As the suppressed report said peak oil is likely to have significant global consequences including civil unrest. How many more reports does our Government need to see before it acts?