Labour ‘may as well hand out dole notices’ after North Sea oil ban plans
LABOUR were accused of undermining the UK’s energy security after it emerged the party was considering banning new North Sea oil and gas licences, should it win the next election.
Reports in the Sunday Times suggested that Keir Starmer and his shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, were minded to block any new development in what remains the UK’s key offshore energy field.
The industry trade body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) hit back at the plans, saying that around 42 per cent of the UK’s electricity comes from gas-fired power stations and that the transition towards greener energy must be a “partnership.”
OEUK warned that effectively shutting down the North Sea as an energy producing region would play into the hands of foreign governments.
“Homegrown production of oil and gas means we avoid costlier, less secure, and higher carbon footprint imports. Investment in UK production would also support the infrastructure and workforces needed to make cleaner, more affordable energy in the UK, for the UK,” the organisation’s chief executive said.
Whilst the licensing of new North Sea exploration remains contentious, Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has given guarded backing to at least one new flagship project, the Rosebank Oil Field.
“We will need fossil fuels for the next few decades as we transition to a greener future. During that period, it makes absolutely no sense not to invest in the resources we have here at home,” Sunak said earlier this month.
Proponents of new projects argue greater energy independence and security would strengthen the UK’s hand in foreign policy. Energy prices across Europe spiked immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as western governments stopped buying Russian energy, and whilst Britain was not a direct buyer in any significant sense of Moscow’s energy reserves it led to a price spike here nonetheless.
Free-market think-tank the IEA said the proposal to bar new development would “deter investment.
“Keir Starmer might as well jump in an Aberdeen taxi and hand out the dole notices,” the group’s Andy Mayer added.