Ed Miliband’s North Sea drilling failure ‘will cost seats’ warns Labou | Politics | News
Unite has reportedly warned Ed Miliband: Approve North Sea drilling or watch for Labor Bleeding Council seats in May.
It is understood that the union’s secretary general, Sharon Graham, said that blocking new oil and natural gas exploration at a time when the Iran war is increasing energy bills is damaging the party before local elections. The alleged warning comes as all unions turn to the Government’s net zero programme.
Graham was reported to have said: “The Government’s energy policies at both Westminster and Holyrood are putting jobs and energy security at risk. This is an act of self-harm and Labor will surely pay the price for it at the May election.”
“As energy bills soar due to the Iran war, Unite has a clear message: we must keep the North Sea running and fund a concrete plan for jobs. Voters may find that letting go of one string without holding the other is a big mistake.”
The Express reported how Miliband opposed the opening of Rosebank, the country’s largest untapped oil field, at an estimated 300 million barrels, and has yet to grant a drilling license for the Jackdaw gas field, which analysts say could meet around six per cent of Britain’s annual gas demand.
Print from all sides
The Minister of Energy is being pulled from all directions. Reeves has gone on record as saying he would be “very happy” for work to begin at both sites. A number of Labor MPs also made the same case.
Labor supporter Henry Tufnell was quoted by the Telegraph as saying drilling in the North Sea was “vital for our own internal energy security and good for the economy through increased tax revenues and jobs”.
Luke Akehurst, also in the Labor seat, said in the same report: “There is no contradiction between developing renewables and nuclear energy and exploiting our remaining North Sea oil and gas reserves.”
North of the border, Scottish Labor Party leader Anas Sarwar weighed in on the issue of approving licenses. His party is bracing for a tough night in May’s Holyrood contest, with some predictions putting him in third place.
Union rebellion
Graham is not alone. GMB general secretary Gary Smith used the weekend to call for a wholesale reconsideration of net zero, evoking the specter of deindustrialisation. He was reported to have said: “It would be a shame if a Labor government in Aberdeen presided over what Thatcher did to Middlesbrough in the 1980s.”
Graham’s relationship with Downing Street has been deteriorating for months. Last month he cut Unite’s financial contribution to the party by 40 per cent and told Sir Keir directly that his members had “reached the end of the line” on his leadership.
The election arithmetic is very clear. Polls show Labor will concede a large number of council seats on May 7 as support for Reform England and the Greens declines. Westminster insiders are already trying to predict what will happen for Sir Keir’s position.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay traveled to Glasgow on Monday to accuse Miliband of willful ignorance about energy.
“The reality is that we cannot afford to rely on a volatile energy market dominated by countries that are not our friends in many respects, and we will need oil and gas for decades to come,” he told reporters.
“It’s not hard to understand. Ed Miliband seems to be one of the last people in the country who doesn’t understand these basic facts.”
