Labour split over North Sea oil and gas drilling as fuel costs rise

Labour MPs are split over the future of North Sea oil and gas exploitation amid rising fuel costs due to the Iran conflict.

According to The Times, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to green light drilling in the Jackdaw gasfield off the coast of Aberdeen, but is said to be opposed to drilling in the Rosebank oil field.

While the government has dismissed speculation over Jackdaw as “unfounded”, Chancellor Rachel Reeves had told Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 that she would be “very happy” to back both Jackdaw and the Rosebank project.

She said: “It would, of course, create jobs and tax revenue, and that is what we continue to support oil and gas for decades to come.”

‘Security, jobs and tax revenue’

Josh Simons, MP for Makerfield and former minister, said that exploiting oil and gas reserves at Rosebank and Jackdaw can go hand in hand with work to decarbonise energy and expanding the grid to provide “security, jobs and tax revenue”.

Buckingham and Bletchley MP Callum Anderson echoed Simons’ view, posting on social media: “Clean, domestic energy is good for business and households, but getting there requires pragmatism.

“Backing Rosebank and Jackdaw [means] supporting jobs and growth plus tax revenue.”

‘We can’t keep going back to oil and gas’

However, several Labour MPs have hit out at any suggestion of “doubling down on oil and gas”.

Stratford and Bow MP Uma Kumaran said that the Iran conflict had demonstrated Britain’s “over reliance” on oil.

She said: “The climate crisis is very real, as is the energy crisis. We can’t keep going back to oil and gas.

“Sustainable, cheaper, greener energy exists – we need to invest in and understand it.”

Chris Murray, MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, agreed and said fossil fuels are not the answer to the energy or climate crises.

“Our energy security is threatened by our reliance on fossil fuels. The answer is renewables and nuclear, not doubling down on oil and gas.”

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Research published earlier this week found that exploiting the Jackdaw field would only displace a fraction of current UK gas demand, leaving the UK reliant on supplies from other countries.

Tessa Khan, executive director of campaign group uplift, which conducted the research, told The Guardian: “New fields like Jackdaw and Rosebank would do vanishingly little to boost UK gas production. Even in the most optimistic scenario, and assuming none of its gas is exported, Jackdaw would provide just two percent of UK demand over its nine to 12 year lifetime.”

The Labour manifesto at the last general election committed the government to not issuing new licences to explore new fields “because they will not take a penny off bills, cannot make us energy secure, and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis”.

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