Oil and gas bill breaks UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels, Alok Sharma says | Fossil fuels

Alok Sharma has said the government’s oil and gas bill will not cut household energy costs or create jobs and instead breaks the UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels.

During a debate on the bill, which would place the North Sea Transition Authority under a duty to run annual applications for new offshore oil and gas licences, the former Cop26 president criticised the government’s push to “max out” the North Sea. MPs will vote on the bill’s second reading on Monday night.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of hundreds of scientists, has said no new oil and gas licences should be granted if the world is to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Going beyond this would cause climate catastrophe, ruining the lives of millions. UK ministers promised to phase out oil and gas at last year’s Cop28 conference in Dubai.

Referring to minister Graham Stuart who represented the UK at the conference, Sharma said: “My right honourable friend tweeted himself at Cop28 that there must be an unabated phaseout of fossil fuels to meet our climate goals. But today we have a bill before this house, the sole purpose of which is to double down on granting more oil and gas production licences. I do not believe, and it pains me to say this, that this bill will advance that commitment to transition away from fossil fuels.”

He said the bill would not lower bills or create jobs, despite the claims of the energy secretary, Claire Coutinho. Sharma said: “This bill is about improving domestic energy security. But I think we all understand that the oil and gas extracted from the North Sea is owned by private enterprises and the government does not control who it is sold to. We all understand that this does not necessarily lower bills. We have to acknowledge that 200,000 jobs supported by the oil and gas industry have been lost over the last decade, and that is despite hundreds of new drilling licences being issued.”

He added that skills in the oil and gas industry were fully transferrable to green energy and said the government should instead focus on “more wind power, more solar, more nuclear”.

Ed Miliband pointed out that a host of Tories including former net zero tsar Chris Skidmore, who resigned as an MP over the government’s plans, former prime minister Theresa May and Sharma had all criticised the bill.

The shadow energy secretary referred to the bill as “climate vandalism”, telling the Commons: “We face massive challenges as a country but it isn’t the scale of our problems that is apparent today, it’s the smallness of their response.” He said the bill was “risible” and would not make any difference to Britain’s energy security.

But Coutinho said the bill would “improve energy security here and in Europe”, adding: “We do not live in a world where we can simply turn off oil and gas.” She said the UK was “blessed” with the North Sea and the fossil fuels contained within.

Many in the energy industry and environmental experts have said the bill is pointless and the government’s time would be better spent focusing on rolling out renewables.

Energy mogul Dale Vince who runs Ecotricity said he had not been able to erect an onshore wind turbine since 2017 due to the government’s changes to planning laws, which effectively banned the energy source.

Vince said: “The government has sabotaged our ability to create clean energy from onshore wind in England. Today, Rishi Sunak wants to ramp up oil and gas licensing in the North Sea. It won’t lower our bills, help the environment, or give us energy security. It’s madness when you think about it. Onshore wind doesn’t need public subsidies: it can help lower bills and create jobs.”

Greenpeace released a YouGov poll of more than 4,000 voters showing the majority (55%) of UK adults surveyed believed the government was not taking a lead on the climate crisis, compared with only 19% who thought it was.

Greenpeace UK climate campaigner Georgia Whitaker said: “These survey results are yet another sign that Sunak’s climate rollbacks and fossil fuel expansion plans aren’t resonating with voters, including those in Conservative heartlands.

“Ministers know that new North Sea oil and gas will make no difference to household bills, and have admitted that approving the Rosebank oilfield will not boost our energy security. So if Sunak is pushing this agenda solely to revive his plummeting ratings, he’s clearly miscalculated – and Conservative MPs will pay the price.”