Top Tory slams PM's 'smoke and mirrors' plan for more North Sea drilling

08 January 2024 , 08:24

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Sir Alok Sharma, right, tore into Rishi Sunak's Government for failing to tackle the climate crisis (Image: Leon Neal)

A former Cabinet minister has said he won't vote for a "smoke and mirrors" bill to allow more oil and gas drilling in the North Sea in a furious attack on Rishi Sunak.

Sir Alok Sharma said the Government was "not being serious" about tackling the climate crisis and accused ministers of ditching commitments made at the COP28 summit only a few weeks ago. The former Business Secretary and COP26 President said he would not vote for the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill in the Commons today.

It will come as a fresh headache for Mr Sunak after another ex-minister Chris Skidmore said he was quitting over the bill, triggering another nightmare by-election. Sir Alok told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I will not be voting for this bill and as it's currently drafted, this bill is a total distraction. It is actually a smoke and mirrors bill which frankly changes nothing.

"The North Sea Transition Authority, which is the body that actually grants oil and gas licences, can already grant licences when they think it's necessary and the Energy Department has made pretty clear that with respect of this bill, that will not change. What this bill does do is reinforce that unfortunate perception about the UK rowing back from climate action.

Tory ex-climate minister Chris Skidmore has resigned in protest at the Government's plans for oil and gas drilling. Photo by Mark Thomas/REX

"We saw this last autumn with the chopping and changing of some policies, and actually not being serious about meeting our international commitments." The UK signed up to transitioning away from using fossil fuels at the COP28 summit in December but this bill is "the opposite of what we agreed internationally", Mr Sharma said.

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Keir Starmer branded the bill a "waste of time" designed to create a dividing line between the Government and Opposition. Speaking on a visit to the East Midlands today, he said: "This Bill that the Government is passing, or trying to pass, is a waste of time. It isn't going to make any difference at all - zero impact - on energy bills." He added: "What you've got is a Government that's wasting its time trying to pass legislation to create a dividing line with the Labour Party rather than to solve the problem."

Mr Skidmore, a former net zero tsar, announced he was quitting on Friday over the legislation, which he said “clearly promotes the production of new oil and gas”. In a furious resignation statement, he said the "future will judge harshly" anyone who supports the bill".

“I can… no longer condone nor continue to support a Government that is committed to a course of action that I know is wrong and will cause future harm,” he wrote. “To fail to act, rather than merely speak out, is to tolerate a status quo that cannot be sustained. I am therefore resigning my party whip and instead intend to be free from any party-political allegiance.”

He added: “I can no longer stand by. The climate crisis that we face is too important to politicise or to ignore.” His resignation is expected to be confirmed today as the Commons returns from the Christmas recess. It will mean a by-election in his seat of Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, where he has a 11,220 majority.

Mr Sunak was confronted over his "flip flopping" on net zero at a PM Connect event in Lancashire. He saud : "We've already decarbonised faster than any other major economy in the world. Fact. We've got more ambitious targets than any other advanced economy in the world. Fact. And we can still meet those targets without having to impose these costs on you prematurely, telling you to switch your car, rip out your boiler, upgrade the efficiency in your home."

Downing Street refused to say whether the point of the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill is to increase the number of licences granted. "I'm not going to speculate on whether more licences will be granted, that's a decision partly for the companies themselves," Mr Sunak's spokesman said.

Challenged over the fact the oil will be sold abroad rather than in the UK, the spokesman said it was "preferable to have an international market which has more oil and gas from the UK and other countries which are stable, which are not authoritarian regimes".

Lizzy Buchan