Boosting renewable energy supplies will stop “petrostates and dictators” meddling with the UK cost of living, Ed Miliband has said, after his Conservative opposite number warned “only a complete whacko” would scale down North Sea oil and gas production.
The Energy Secretary and Claire Coutinho traded blows ahead of a Commons vote on whether to permit licences to explore new oil and gas fields.
As part of last week’s King’s Speech, the Government unveiled plans for an Energy Independence Bill, designed to meet a Labour manifesto pledge to not issue new licences to explore new fields.
But the Conservatives have moved an amendment which, if agreed, would signal the Commons’ support for fossil fuel drilling in the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields off the Scottish coast.
According to Government papers, the proposed Bill will set up a new strategy for green-lighting new energy infrastructure projects and accelerating the development of offshore wind, hydrogen and grid technologies.
“While we remain exposed to the fossil fuel rollercoaster, we are deeply vulnerable as a country,” Mr Miliband told the Commons.
“Our sovereignty, our security and the British people’s living standards are undermined by this dependence and exposure because – for a simple reason – we do not control the price of oil and gas, which is set on international markets.”
He added: “There is an answer staring us in the face – energy independence through clean home-grown power we control.
“Clean home-grown energy that comes from our own winds, sun, and nuclear resources, that cannot be disrupted by foreign wars, that cannot be controlled by the whims of petrostates and dictators, that means our national security and energy security cannot be held hostage.”
Mr Miliband defended his party’s approach as he told MPs that £90 billion of private investment had gone towards “clean energy” since the 2024 general election.
The Bill will also give offshore workers in renewables the same employment rights as their counterparts in the oil and gas sectors, he said.
Dave Doogan, the SNP Westminster leader, asked Mr Miliband whether he would be forced into a “screeching U-turn” if UK oil and gas production fell faster than the rate of consumption.
Mr Miliband replied Mr Doogan’s party “has had more positions on this than the Kama Sutra”.
He said existing oil and gas fields could stay open for their lifetime and added: “We’re not in favour of a turning off the taps position but, I’ll just be honest with the House, nor are we in favour of a drilling every last drop position.
Ms Coutinho said Labour whips wanted MPs to “vote to shut down the North Sea” at the end of Tuesday’s King’s Speech debate.
“This is the single greatest act of industrial self-harm we have seen in a generation,” the shadow energy secretary added.
“Only a complete whacko would respond to a supply shortage by shutting down their own oil and gas industry.”
She said the Government’s position would leave the UK “more reliant on higher-emission gas from Qatar or the US”, or funnelling “billions of pounds to Norway to import gas from the very same basin” in the North Sea.
“He’s shutting down British oil and gas to show climate leadership,” Ms Coutinho continued.
“He put that in the King’s Speech.
“Let’s be crystal clear, though – what he’s saying is that he’s willing to turn his back on British industry even though we won’t need any less. We’ll just rely on higher emission imports from abroad because he cares more about the climate bureaucrats than the jobs of British workers.”
The Conservative frontbencher later warned that a call for “reindustrialisation” was “just a meaningless slogan unless you back the North Sea, axe the carbon taxes that are killing British industry, and cut the cost of energy”.
In addition to a plea to drill for oil and gas off the coast of Scotland, the Conservatives’ motion includes a warning that the Government’s proposal “will have a particularly negative impact on Aberdeen, the North East of Scotland and wider UK economy”.
Supporters of the motion also “regret the cancellation of a third large-scale nuclear power plant at Wylfa” on Anglesey, North Wales, after work stopped on a multi-billion-pound development in 2019 and has not been revived in full.
