Tony Blair calls for more North Sea drilling to protect UK from economic shocks exposed by Iran war
Tony Blair has echoed Labor’s call to expand drilling in the North Sea, saying the war in Iran has exposed Britain’s “structural vulnerability” to global fossil fuel shocks.
The former prime minister’s think tank has put further pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to back the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas fields after Donald Trump’s war caused oil prices to soar.
In a new report, the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) said the conflict should be seen as part of a wider energy crisis facing the UK and called for a wider “reset” of its energy strategy, arguing that the UK’s approach is increasingly diverging from global rivals.
TBI’s energy policy expert Tone Langengen said the war in Iran was “a test of Britain’s economic resilience”.
“But the case for strengthening domestic supply and supporting projects such as Jackdaw and Rosebank was already strong; the crisis has made clear how vulnerable the UK remains without this,” he said.
“If the government addresses the wrong parts of the system, the UK will continue to be exposed to the same vulnerabilities.”
However, he added that the government could use the crisis as a “reset opportunity” by taking steps to accelerate domestic supply in order to reduce dependence on unstable imports.
“A credible strategy needs to do three things: manage today’s system, reduce exposure to shocks, and reshape the energy system over time,” he said.
“The lesson from Iran is clear: the UK not only needs more clean energy, it also needs electrification, greater flexibility and a more affordable system over time. Without this, households will face repeated price shocks, businesses will face persistently high costs and the transition itself will fail.”
The statement came after the TBI called on the government in February to lift the ban on new exploration licenses and reduce tax rates on the sector, saying the measures “sharply increase policy risk and push capital out of the basin”.
The question of whether to allow further drilling for domestic oil and gas in the North Sea has put pressure on Sir Keir in recent weeks, with members of his own cabinet appearing to be at loggerheads over the issue.
Last week the government denied Ed Miliband was expected to greenlight the first major North Sea field project in nearly 10 years. But Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she would be “very happy” to support research at the Rosebank and Jackdaw sites.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has also called for more domestic oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, joining the likes of President Trump who have long called for the UK to drill domestically.
The US president has repeatedly criticized wind energy and called on the British government to focus on drilling in the North Sea, telling Sir Keir to “drill, baby, drill”.
He has previously described the North Sea as “one of the largest reserves anywhere in the world” and criticized Britain for “making it impossible for oil companies to leave”.
