SIR Keir Starmer has vowed to halt investment in new British oil and gas fields if Labour wins the next election.
In a stunning departure from current government policy, the Labour leader ruled out new investment in North Sea fossil fuels as he outlined the party’s mission to go green.
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His intervention comes just a week after it was revealed that Labour has taken £360,000 in donations from the money-man funding the Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion groups.
It also follows the Scottish Government’s decision to make a “presumption” against future oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
Addressing business leaders and policymakers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Sir Keir called on countries to form a “clean power alliance” to rival the Opec group of oil exporting countries.
Sir Keir claimed an alliance would help bring down energy bills and stressed that Labour’s energy plan did not involve fossil fuels.
“What we’ve said about oil and gas is that there does need to be a transition,” he said.
“Obviously it will play its part during that transition but not new investment, not new fields up in the North Sea, because we need to go towards net zero, we need to ensure that renewable energy is where we go next.”
Ryan Crighton, Policy Director at Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, urged the Labour front bench to come to Aberdeen to get a ‘balanced view’ from transition experts.
“I find it very hard to understand how Labour can form an energy policy given how little I know it has engaged with the industry,” he said.
“His support for renewables is welcome, but like the SNP last week, the position set out by Sir Keir suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of the energy transition, and the requirement for oil and gas to both bridge and fund it.
“The energy transition is going to take 25 years or more and there is quite clearly a sustained period of time where oil and gas will remain a crucial part of our energy mix.
“So, we have two options; to produce more domestically, with full control over the regulatory environment in which it is extracted; or to import an increasing amount of our energy, with the heavier carbon toll that shipping it from other parts of the world carries. The latter makes little economic sense, and even less environmental sense – and opinion polls are consistently showing that the public back this view.
“It should not be lost on people that Labour has revealed this stance just a week after it emerged the party has accepted £360,000 in donations from the man bankrolling Just Stop Oil. I suggest Sir Keir and his shadow cabinet come to Aberdeen to get a balanced view from the people and companies delivering energy security for the UK today, while ploughing billions into the low-carbon energy sources of tomorrow.”
Labour’s energy proposals mark a sharp departure from current policy. The UK has just held a new round for oil and gas exploration licences and has held back from joining an international pact to stop new oil and gas field developments.
Sir Keir said: “One of the things that I am proposing is a clean power alliance where countries that are in the advance when it comes to net-zero share information, co-operate and share investment with a view to driving the global prices down.
“So, this is an inverse Opec. Instead of trying to ensure prices stay at a certain level, it’s to drive them down, to see the common benefit, whether it’s in the UK or across the globe.”
