As fuel prices soar, voters tell Miliband to ditch his Net Zero obsession and lift ban on North Sea oil and gas that would make ALL our lives easier

Labor must immediately lift a North Sea drilling ban to prevent households being hit with the cost of the Iran crisis, voters have said.

The findings that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband should ditch Net Zero dogma and release £165bn worth of oil and gas into British waters come amid a growing divide in the Cabinet on the issue and mounting pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to cancel planned oil tax increases for the autumn.

Since Iran began blockading the Strait of Hormuz following US and Israeli attacks, global energy prices have soared, with the cost of a liter of diesel in the UK heading towards the £2 mark.

The survey, conducted by former Conservative Party deputy leader Lord Ashcroft, found that half of voters think Mr Miliband should “drill, baby, drill” – in the words of Donald Trump, who was elected on promises to increase gas and oil production in the US.

The poll, shared with The Mail on Sunday, also shows an unprecedented three-way split between the Conservative Party, Reform and the Greens, who received 21 per cent of the vote, with Labor in fourth place with 17 per cent.

Reform UK’s failure to lead a poll for the first time in almost a year will add to growing anxiety within the party over Nigel Farage’s apparent loss of momentum ahead of next month’s local elections.

There is no end to the Iran war:

• The desperate search for a downed American airman in Iran intensified Saturday night as U.S. special forces raced against armed nomads to find the missing crewman in the south of the country;

Global energy prices have skyrocketed since Iran began blockading the Strait of Hormuz following US and Israeli attacks. Image: File photo of an offshore oil and gas platform

The findings that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband should abandon Net Zero dogma and release £165bn worth of oil and gas into British waters come amid a growing division in the Cabinet on the issue. Picture: Mr Miliband on the BBC’s current affairs program on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg last month

• President Trump issued a stern warning to Iran about reopening the Strait of Hormuz, warning on social media: ‘Time is running out – 48 hours until doomsday reigns’ [sic] on them. Thank God!’

• An elite team of Royal Navy divers is on standby to deploy to the Strait of Hormuz to help neutralize Iranian naval mines blocking shipping lanes;

• Former RAF pilot John Peters, who was shot down in Iraq in 1991, warned that the downed airman would make a desperate attempt to evade capture.

One fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and closing this strait puts intense pressure on the global economy.

Britain’s North Sea oil reserves were central to Margaret Thatcher’s administration in the 1980s; The £70 billion in revenues helped fund industrial restructuring and tax cuts.

Mr Miliband insisted that approving new drilling licenses would not reduce bills for UK consumers, sticking to his Net Zero-focused opposition to new fossil fuel extraction.

Last week he said those who ‘said that new exploration licenses would somehow create huge amounts of energy for us’ were ‘wrong’.

Ms Reeves, by contrast, said she was ‘very happy’ to support exploration at the Rosebank oil field and Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.

Mr Miliband (pictured during his visit to London’s Power Tunnels last month) has stuck to his Net Zero-focused opposition to new fossil fuel extraction

But the Conservatives and Reform have called on the Energy Secretary to reverse his ‘ideological’ opposition to access to three billion barrels of oil and gas worth around £165bn. Picture: Well-Safe Protector oil rig in Aberdeen

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch (pictured, visiting a chemical company on Teesside during a local election campaign tour this week) described failure to exploit North Sea oil and gas as ‘economic madness’

On Saturday night, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice (pictured at a Reform UK press conference last month) told this newspaper: ‘This poll proves that the British people have far more common sense than the political class.’

The Conservatives and Reform called on the Energy Secretary to reverse his ‘ideological’ opposition to access to three billion barrels of oil and gas worth around £165 billion, while Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch described the failure as ‘economic madness’.

On Saturday night Reform deputy leader Richard Tice told this newspaper: ‘This poll proves that the British people are far more sensible than the political class.

‘There are hundreds of billions of pounds worth of energy beneath our feet.

‘It is our patriotic duty to maximize British gas production, create jobs, boost growth and achieve true energy independence.

‘Labour and the Conservative Party have failed on this issue for years. The reform will lift restrictions on day one, start drilling and offer lower bills to everyone.’

This view was echoed by President Trump, who described the North Sea as a ‘treasure chest’ for the UK and called on Sir Keir Starmer to take advantage of it.

Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar, the SNP, Tony Blair’s think tank and the Labor-backing GMB Union also expressed their support.

The average price of a liter of diesel in Britain has risen 30 per cent since the start of the war to 185.2 pence and could exceed £2 within weeks, experts have warned.

Meanwhile, petrol prices increased by 16 percent over the same period to an average of 154.5 pence per liter.

This view was echoed by US President Donald Trump (pictured during a televised speech on the war in the Middle East this week), who described the North Sea as a ‘treasure chest’ for Britain and called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to take advantage of it.

The average price of a liter of diesel in Britain has risen 30 per cent since the start of the war to 185.2 pence and could exceed £2 within weeks, experts have warned. Image: File photo of a petrol and diesel price sign at a station in London this week

Meanwhile, Chancellor Rachel Reeves (pictured in the House of Commons last month) plans to end the current 5p per liter fuel duty discount in September.

Ms Reeves, who receives more than £100 million in extra VAT revenue each month, plans to end the current 5p per liter fuel duty discount in September; This will add an average of £3 to the cost of filling a tank.

Governments around the world are reducing fuel taxes to ease the burden of rising gasoline and diesel prices on households.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already halved the fuel tax.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday this week, Lord Ashcroft said: ‘Having seen how unstable our supplies from the Middle East can be, I think the Government should end rather than continue its ridiculous ban on new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.

‘For anxious families, household bills and security of supply tend to win out against Net Zero targets.’