We need to stop Rishi Sunak’s reckless North Sea oil plans
By: Izzie McIntosh
Date: 19 January 2024
Campaigns: Climate
The Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill will essentially require new oil and gas projects in the UK to be licensed every year. It claims to “boost the UK economy, energy security and transition to net zero”. Yet this purpose is in complete opposition to the name of the bill. It will recklessly encourage new fossil fuel production in the UK.
So what is this bill actually about, and what is wrong with it?
It’s dangerous
Requiring the regulator to hold annual licensing rounds takes the UK further down a dark and dangerous path when it comes to the climate. The International Energy Agency has been crystal clear that there can be no more fossil fuel projects if we are to remain with 1.5 degrees of warming. In this context, encouraging new oil and gas licences is a dangerous game that the government is playing with the lives of every single person in the UK, as well as the billions in the global south who are highly vulnerable to climate change, and are contributing little to the crisis. The government is facing rebellion over this bill. Conservative MP Chris Skidmore quit in advance of its second reading, saying: “I cannot vote for the bill. The future will judge harshly those that do”. Conservative COP26 president Alok Sharma has also committed to rebelling when the bill comes back to parliament.
It doesn’t help energy security
The government has already admitted, on national television no less, that this bill won’t directly contribute to energy security. Renewable energy is a much more reliable way of ensuring good prices for consumers; the UK has the resources to produce an abundance of clean energy for domestic supply, while oil and gas is sold according to the rules of a volatile global market. This means any further reliance on oil and gas leaves us all exposed to global price shocks in an increasingly turbulent world. The government’s contention that this bill will reduce emissions from importing fossil fuels as we transition is also mostly bogus. On closer examination, it can only be corroborated by the type of sleight of hand we know this government has truly mastered.
It’s ultimately all for show
Even if all the above weren’t true, the regulator has said they don’t need this bill as they issue licences when they want to anyway. In a time of climate and cost of living crisis, this government is essentially choosing to further bolster an industry that is so powerful it has basically said it doesn’t need any more help from the government. In the David and Goliath battle to take on the fossil fuel industry and save the planet, this government seems to only be interested in standing on the giant’s back and pelting grenades at the good guys. We need grassroots demand and pressure for a plan to tackle this industry head on.
It’s cynical
So, taking all the above into account, why is the government bothering to do this? This piece of legislation represents Rishi Sunak using all our lives and futures as a political football ahead of the general election. Chris Skidmore himself accused this government of politicising oil and gas licensing. Rishi Sunak would rather try to set up a false opposition between climate action and the cost of living ahead of the election than make sensible energy choices that will actually lower bills and protect us all. Polling has shown that the public prefers renewable energy as a route to energy security, and that the climate crisis is high on the list of voters’ concerns. But we will need to mobilise in the weeks and months to come to make sure the prime minister’s political gamble fails.
We don’t have much time
MPs are voting on Monday over the government’s plans to require new oil and gas projects in the UK to be licensed every year. If MPs vote through the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill at its second reading, this reckless fossil fuel scheme will be one step closer to becoming law.
