The UK’s most senior climate adviser has strongly endorsed Labour’s vow to halt new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, and slammed the government for failing to show leadership on the issue.
John Gummer, who as Lord Deben chairs the statutory committee on climate change, told the Guardian he approved of Labour’s commitment. “I welcome this policy, I am absolutely in favour and it is the right thing to do,” he said.
“I’m sorry this is not a common view to all parties,” he added.
Gummer, a former Conservative environment secretary in the 1990s, blasted ministers who have attacked Labour’s proposals. He pointed out that the government’s support for new oil and gas exploration ran counter to its stance at international climate negotiations, now taking place in Bonn.
“I don’t understand how the government can ask other people not to produce more oil [while supporting new oil and gas licences in the North Sea]. That’s exactly what they are doing now – asking other people not to do what they’re doing,” he said.
Labour has come under fire over its stance on the North Sea, from the government as well as its own supporters. Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, used social media to lambast Keir Starmer, charging him with committing to higher energy bills.
The GMB union also attacked Starmer after he last week reaffirmed a commitment made earlier this year to halt the drilling of new oil and gas wells in the North Sea. Gary Smith, leader of the GMB Union, claimed it was “naive” and would cost jobs.
But Starmer has strongly defended his decision, which along with commitments to green jobs, new nuclear power and renewable energy will form the centrepiece of a policy statement to be made in Scotland later this month.
Gummer told the Guardian that leaders across the political spectrum should follow Labour’s lead. “This should be the common view of all parties,” he said.
He said it was “nonsense” to claim that new oil and gas fields would reduce energy bills. “These are new oilfields that will not come on stream for another 10 or 20 years. And when they do, the oil and gas will be sold to the highest bidder. So it will not reduce prices in the UK. The only way you could make them reduce bills here would be to nationalise them.”
He said fears over jobs at risk in the North Sea were also unfounded. He said the UK should continue to produce gas from existing fields in the short term, but future jobs would be in green industries.
“I’m in favour of producing more gas now, we need it owing to what Putin has done, but we are not talking about that – we are talking about new oilfields that would not come on stream for many years,” he said.
“There are vast numbers of jobs to be had in offshore and onshore wind, in solar PV, which are all much cheaper than using oil. The jobs are all there in green industries – these are new jobs, the oil jobs are old jobs. Trade unions should be supporting new job creation.”
Gummer said he also favoured building new nuclear power stations, which Starmer has also pledged to support.
Before his ennoblement as Lord Deben, Gummer was a long-serving Conservative MP and former environment secretary and minister, under Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He is due to leave his CCC post later this month, and a successor has not yet been named.
International negotiations are taking place in Bonn this week and next over how to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. But the government would not confirm to the Guardian whether any ministers will attend.
Gummer said a halt to new oil and gas exploration was essential to keep the global climate livable. “Climate change will mean we will not be able to live as we do now, in the very near future. It’s urgent, it has to be dealt with, and we cannot ignore it,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “In line with our net zero 2050 commitment, we will not shy away from awarding new licences where they are justified, and where they can benefit Britain. While our plans to power up Britain include significant investment in new renewable and nuclear projects, the transition to non-fossil forms of energy cannot happen overnight and even when we’re net zero, we will still need some oil and gas, as recognised by the independent CCC.”
