Badenoch criticised for ‘peddling dangerous fantasy’ about North Sea oil drilling

Kemi Badenoch is “peddling a dangerous fantasy” about North Sea energy in her attempt to reverse a ban on new oil and gas licences, a leading campaign group has said.The Conservative leader is expected to call on the government to lift its suspension of the licences as part of a drive to reduce energy prices, as the party launches a new campaign aimed at boosting the fossil fuel sector.However, critics have questioned the efficiency of the policy, claiming it would be unlikely to cut household bills.Tessa Khan, executive director of the renewable energy campaign group Uplift described it as “vapid, political game playing at the expense of ordinary people”.“Kemi Badenoch is peddling a dangerous fantasy on the North Sea and is completely out of step with the UK public who just want an affordable supply of energy,” Khan said. “More drilling will do absolutely nothing to lower energy bills, a fact that she knows and members of her Cabinet have admitted.”In 2023, when serving as energy secretary, Conservative MP Claire Coutinho admitted that new licences “wouldn’t necessarily bring energy bills down” but argued they would improve the “security” of supply. Coutinho now has the energy brief in Badenoch’s shadow cabinet.The Labour government last year decided to ban new oil and gas licensing, shifting its focus to homegrown renewable energy.Global oil prices have soared since the strait of Hormuz was in effect closed amid ongoing conflict in Iran, prompting concern about the longer term effect on energy costs.Badenoch will launch her party’s “get Britain drilling” campaign on Monday on an oil rig off the North Sea, near Aberdeen.Kemi Badenoch has said North Sea drilling can protect households from rising bills. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PAShe has previously said that drilling in the North Sea is one few ways households can be protected from rising bills, a sentiment echoed by Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage.However, experts have consistently said that North Sea production is too small to influence global prices.The Guardian reported on Saturday that hundreds of new North Sea licences granted by the Conservatives between 2010 and 2024 have so far produced just 36 days of gas, according to research by Uplift and the energy consultancy Voar.However, Badenoch said: “Labour’s ban on new oil and gas drilling licences was stupid when they put it in their manifesto, in the middle of an energy crisis it’s completely crazy.“Drilling our own oil and gas is about energy security, it’s about financial security, it’s about national security.“It’s more jobs, good for business and provides tax revenues that could be used to bring down bills.”Badenoch is also expected to call on the government to scrap the windfall tax on energy profits and lend more financial support to the fossil fuel industry. Khan described this as “tone deaf” at a time when the public is “incredibly anxious about their bills skyrocketing again”. She added: “Politicians who refuse to acknowledge the reality of the declining North Sea are endangering our security and economy. Not only that, they are betraying workers who need long-term, secure jobs – which will only now come from renewables – not some pipe dream.”Claymore oil drilling platform in the North Sea off the coast of Aberdeen. Photograph: Simon Price/AlamyGreg Jackson, the chief executive of green energy company Octopus, argued that drilling for more gas in the North Sea “would have little effect on prices” because the UK is “highly integrated” with the European and global markets.“The USA is often cited as a case where a lot of drilling has kept prices lower,” he said. “On gas, they’re not as integrated with global markets as we are but their oil is – and as a result you see their petrol prices rising a lot during this crisis despite so much domestic production.“More UK oil and gas would give more security of supply if governments controlled exports, but I don’t think the drilling advocates are proposing that.“And big picture – the oil and gas industry are never going to build ‘excess production’ so there’ll never be meaningful spare capacity in global fossil fuel supply, which is why whenever there’s a big supply shock it has such catastrophic effects on prices.”A Labour spokesperson said: “The awkward truth is Badenoch’s own shadow energy secretary admitted that new licences would not cut energy bills.“Energy bills will be falling this week thanks to the actions of a Labour government that the Conservatives opposed.“The Conservatives and Reform want to outsource Britain’s energy security to fossil fuel markets over which we have no control. Labour is taking back control with record investment in clean homegrown power.”