On Monday, Britain’s Labour Party, which is tipped to win the next general election, pledged to make the UK a clean energy superpower by the end of the decade.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said on Monday that Labour’s mission is “to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.”
“We will cut bills, create good jobs across the whole of the UK, and deliver energy security,” Starmer said, adding that a surge in homegrown renewable resources would make Britain less dependent on hostile regimes, including Putin’s.
Labour seeks to bring down energy bills on a permanent basis, not just from month to month, Starmer said in announcing the party’s energy platform today.
The Labour leader reiterated his view that renewables will be the pillar of energy in the UK. In recent days, however, Starmer has backtracked on previous comments about the North Sea oil and gas industry and a ban on new developments offshore the UK.
The Conservatives in power and Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have announced they would support new licenses and drilling in the North Sea to boost home-grown energy resource supply and reduce the reliance on foreign imports.
The uncertainty about what Labour would do should it take power next year has threatened the approval of Equinor’s major Rosebank oil project in the UK North Sea.
If licenses and projects are approved by the current Tory government, Labour would not overturn them if it is voted into office, Starmer said today.
“It’s very important for investors who are going to invest in UK to know there is continuity,” he added.
Following Starmer’s speech on Labour’s energy plan, David Whitehouse, chief executive of industry body Offshore Energies UK, said, “Labour’s proposed ban on new exploration licences is too much too soon. It would be damaging for the industry, for consumers and for the UK’s net zero ambitions.”
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By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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