UK should press pause on deep-sea mining, Labour says

A 25-tonne mining robot being tested in the Pacific Ocean’s mineral-rich Clarion Clipperton Zone. Greenpeace said the UK government’s position was ‘out of line with science and its own longstanding promise to protect the oceans’. Photograph: GSR/Reuters

The Labour party has said the UK should back the call for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining, ahead of a crucial meeting of nations in Jamaica to decide the future of the industry.

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said the Labour party was adding its voice to a growing list of countries and businesses urging that moves to start mining be halted “until and unless” there was clear scientific evidence that it could be done safely and the marine environment would be protected by new regulations.