Labour’s opposition to North Sea gas and oil fields is considered reckless, as Sir Keir Starmer was yesterday accused of risking 200,000 British jobs over his opposition to new North Sea gas and oilfields.
Members of Parliament have prepared next week to debate plans to require Ministers to consider new licenses each year for offshore energy exploration. While Labour is opposing the plans, claiming that ‘mandating annual oil and gas licensing rounds will not reduce energy costs for households and businesses.
The party has also said that while a future Labour government would not revoke any existing oil and gas licenses, it would rule out any new extraction plans.
In her reaction to the position of the labour leader, Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho insisted: ‘If we need it, then it is just common sense for us to use our own domestic supply.
She added that Labour would leave the UK ‘importing dirtier fuels and sacrificing billions of pounds of tax that we can invest in the green transition’.
Sir Keir’s policy has also been opposed by two of his party’s biggest union backers amid fears over the decision’s implications for oil and gas workers, saying it will have a devastating effect on the workers.
However, Labour has branded the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill ‘ which is reported to be an ‘unnecessary piece of legislation’ which does not serve the UK’s interest and is also ‘entirely incompatible with the UK’s climate change commitments.
