ABERDEENSHIRE,
SCOTLAND - JULY 31: (L-R) Shell Senior Vice President Simon Roddy, Secretary of
State for Scotland Alister Jack, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Plant Manager
Kerry O'Neill during a visit to Shell St Fergus Gas Plant in Peterhead, for the
announcement of further measures to protect the UK's long-term energy security,
on July 31, 2023 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Prime Minister is expected to
announce millions of pounds in funding for the Acorn carbon capture project, a
joint venture between Shell UK and other companies, and confirm plans to issue
new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. (Photo by Euan Duff
- WPA Pool/Getty Images)
From
left, Shell senior vice president Simon Roddy, Secretary of State for Scotland
Alister Jack, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and plant manager Kerry O’Neill during
a visit to Shell St Fergus Gas Plant in Peterhead, for the announcement of of
plans to issue new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea (Photo:
Euan Duff/Getty)
Tory backlash as Rishi Sunak vows to ‘max out’
North Sea oil and gas reserves
The Prime Minister faces opposition from some in his
own party over plan to grant new oil and gas licences
By Richard
Vaughan, Chris Green, Eleanor Langford, Jane Merrick
July 31,
2023 10:30 pm(Updated August 1, 2023 7:29 am)
Senior
Tories have condemned Rishi Sunak after he said intends to “max out” the North
Sea oil and gas reserves in a further example of his administration backsliding
on the environment.
The Prime
Minister announced on Monday that his Government will grant potentially
hundreds of new licences for oil and gas drilling in the North Sea in a
dramatic departure from the Government’s stance on fossil fuels.
His
decision has sparked deep divisions within the Tory party with the moderate
wing of the party deeply concerned over Mr Sunak’s sharp retreat from the green
agenda.
Speaking
during a visit to Aberdeen, the Prime Minister said: “My view is we should max
out the opportunities that we have in the North Sea because that’s good for our
energy security, it’s good for jobs – particularly here in Scotland – but it’s
also good for the climate, because the alternative is shipping energy here from
halfway around the world with three or four times the carbon emissions.
“So, any
which way you look at it, the right thing to do is to invest and to back our North
Sea and that’s what we’re doing.”
But Chris
Skidmore, a former energy minister, who chaired the Independent Government
Review on Net Zero, warned the move puts the UK “on the wrong side of history”.
The Tory MP
said: “This is the wrong decision at precisely the wrong time, when the rest of
the world is experiencing record heatwaves.
He also
warned that voters will “vote with their feet at the next general election” and
would favour “parties that protect, and not threaten, our environment”. Mr
Skidmore added that he would seeking to hold an emergency debate on the matter
as soon as Parliament returns.
i
understands that moderate Conservatives will be rallying in the coming weeks
ahead of the return of Parliament in a bid to push against the Prime Minister
move away from policies, such as the Net Zero commitment.
Former Tory
minister Baroness Altmann told i that she supported the move towards greater
energy security in the wake of the Ukraine war, but she added the party “must
be vigilant that this is not a slippery slope towards rowing back from our
support for Net Zero and protection of nature”.
“We have a
duty to protect the planet and, if a leading country like the UK starts to pull
back, the rest of the world may backtrack or fail to advance in the way that is
needed,” she said.
The
Conservative Environment Network, which represents a caucus of 150 Tory MPs,
added its voice to the concerns, warning: “As long as we heavily rely on fossil
fuels, the UK will be vulnerable to price shocks from volatile international
markets. The best way to secure our energy supply and cut people’s bills is to
accelerate homegrown renewables.”
Downing
Street insisted that the additional licences would be “entirely compatible”
with the UK’s commitments to meeting its 2050 Net Zero target.
Earlier in
the day, Mr Sunak said: “If we’re going to need it, far better to have it here
at home rather than shipping it here from half way around the world with two,
three, four times, the amount of carbon emissions versus the oil and gas we
have here at home.”
The move
was welcomed by former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who said that the
Government is “being honest about what we have to do” to reach net zero.
He told Sky
News: “These carbon targets, we’re sort of sloping our shoulders and passing
them on to other people by buying gas at higher prices [from other countries].
“We need to
have energy security in the UK, and so that means the North Sea […] It’s far
better that we’re honest about that, we drill for that here, because in
essence, that’s the position that we know what we’re producing, but we’re
owning it as well.”
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