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Will Starmer be able to resist calls to open new oil and gas fields?

  • Charles Wawn
  • Jun 27
  • 3 min read

By Charles Wawn

Protestors stand outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero after it was revealed that oil from the controversial Rosebank field will be sold on the international market. Image: Lucy North/PA
Protestors stand outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero after it was revealed that oil from the controversial Rosebank field will be sold on the international market. Image: Lucy North/PA

Last week, the energy secretary Ed Miliband published new guidance on applications for proposed oil and gas extraction that is to take place in the North Sea. Companies that run these projects must now produce environmental impact assessments that add, in their considerations, the emissions from sold oil and gas on top of the impact of production. The guidance was published following a Supreme Court case where it was held that Surrey Council should have considered the full environmental impact of burning oil from new wells.


The proposed Rosebank oil and gas field is situated 80 miles Northwest of Shetland in the Atlantic Ocean. Jackdaw, on the other hand, lies in the North Sea, 150 miles East of Aberdeen. In January, the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled that the caselaw of the Surrey council case should be applied retroactively to Rosebank and Jackdaw. This led the government to issue the new guidance which has forced the operators of Rosebank and Jackdaw to reapply for licences to drill. Indeed, Ed Miliband, whose official portfolio is ‘Energy Security and Net Zero’, described the licence issued to Rosebank in 2022 as ‘environmental vandalism’. The former Labour leader’s tone is nonetheless much quieter these days and it seems to have been superseded by an increased flexibility.


Energy sovereignty is a legitimate argument for this flexibility. Britain is a net importer of energy and with this cross-border supply chain comes an inherent vulnerability to the uncertainty of the more dangerous, less rule-bound world that this decade has brought. The end of liquid natural gas imports to the UK from Russia in 2022 was a noble decision, but the starving of our nation’s energy supply has been responsible for spiralling energy costs, and the logical next step is to increase Britain’s energy supply via domestic means.


"If the government shows a bit of backbone and learns to say no sometimes, then we can remain on the right track and achieve what will be a very impressive goal for which future generations will praise us. After all, everyone likes a Great British success story."


Simultaneously, climate change is one of the biggest threats facing humanity today and there is a consensus that the vast majority of global warming is caused by human activities. That sentiment that has been shared by around two thirds of the British public since at least the start of the decade, whilst polling also suggests the commitment to net zero by 2050 enjoys majority support across all regions, age groups and supporters of major parties, except for Reform UK. If the government wants to get re-elected, which it is currently struggling to do, pursuing net zero goals appear to be an easy win with a public, especially given Labour’s natural voting base.


Maybe these licences will have to be granted for sake of aiding the transition, the burden of which has been exacerbated by the failure to open any new nuclear power plants since 1995. Other measures to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, cut energy bills and/or foreign energy supplies, such as home insulation and grants for solar panels are welcome too. Yet, Labour’s scaling back of their electoral commitments before the last election seems to be part of an attitude of hesitancy towards tough decisions.


Policy is, in a way, like common law. A decision – legal or political – sets precedent and ripples across law or policy. The government should be wary of constantly altering policies, or else the vision that Labour is building for the country will be irrevocably distorted from the original, like a mirror in a fun house. We cannot kick the can down the road forever.


We currently have 25 years to reach that target of net zero emissions. The UK’s CO2 emissions peaked in 1971 at 660 million tonnes. By 2023, they had declined to 305 million tonnes. If the government shows a bit of backbone and learns to say no sometimes, then we can remain on the right track and achieve what will be a very impressive goal for which future generations will praise us. After all, everyone likes a Great British success story.


Image: Lucy North/PA

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