Red Ed’s own windfarm backers turn against him over North Sea drilling | UK | News

Ed Miliband faced an unexpected outcry when it was reported that the chairman of Britain’s wind farm industry body had urged him to embrace North Sea oil and gas production, saying the Iran war had revealed how vulnerable the country was to energy shocks it could not control.

Tara Singh of RenewableUK, whose members build and operate offshore wind farms at the heart of Labor’s green energy agenda, told reporters producing more fossil fuels in the country was a matter of fundamental national sentiment rather than ideology, and called on the Energy Secretary to “get energy out of the culture wars”.

He drew on his own experience at the heart of government to make the case, saying: “I saw this fragility up close. “I was working on energy in No 10 when Russia’s invasion of Crimea caused prices to soar in the UK.

“I come to this debate from a simple point of view: Britain will be stronger, safer and less exposed if it produces more domestic energy of all kinds.”

He was clear about North Sea drilling: “Therefore, it makes perfect sense to support continued domestic oil and gas production in the North Sea.

“If we don’t produce this gas here, we won’t stop needing it. We’ll just import more of it.”

Ms Singh, who has previously advised both the Government and Shell on energy policy, softened her claim by saying the North Sea was “not an unlimited national asset” but insisted the country would be dependent on oil and gas for the “foreseeable future”.

Miliband is squeezed from all sides

Writing in The Telegraph, Ms Singh’s intervention deepens the pressure on a minister who is already facing criticism from various quarters. Labor’s time in office saw new drilling permits effectively frozen and windfall taxes on producers rising to 78 per cent; Industry figures have warned that this combination is highlighting rather than managing the basin’s decline.

Greg Jackson, boss of Octopus Energy, whose company supplies more gas and electricity to British households than any other, separately urged ministers to take advantage of everything the North Sea has to offer.

Resistance to Miliband’s stance has spread to Labour’s own coalition. Unite and GMB, the unions that backed the party to power, have backed down, as has the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Economists and industry bodies argue that cutting domestic production does no one any good: it costs jobs, narrows the tax base and simply shifts British consumption to higher-carbon imported gas.

The Government faces countervailing pressure from the left, with Green Party activists and Labour’s own radical wing demanding no backtracking on the drilling ban, the Telegraph reports.

‘Not ideological’

Miliband on Sunday rejected suggestions that his position was based on dogma rather than evidence.

Speaking on LBC Radio, he said: “I don’t see it that way at all. As I explained, new licenses won’t make a material difference.

“Our dependence on fossil fuels is costing us tens of billions of pounds in Russia and Ukraine.

“I think the North Sea provides significant revenue, but our over-reliance on fossil fuels has been a big problem.”

Billions of barrels remain underground

A report published on Monday by the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology puts out hard figures on the cost of the current policy. Analysts have found that more than 4.6 billion barrels of oil and gas lie in areas that were never permitted to be extracted and are now permanently out of reach under Labour’s moratorium.

He warned: “Under current policy, no new licenses will be issued for Oil and Gas, meaning these resources will not be suitable for extraction.” The Express reported on a study in 2018 that found 20 billion barrels of oil could be supplied to the UK via the North Sea, enough to last an estimated 20 years.