North Sea: Kemi Badenoch declares an oil and gas emergency - here's what it means
The UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch warns Labour’s policies could mark the end of the UK’s energy security.
A “growing” oil and gas emergency has been declared in Scotland’s north-east by the Conservatives leader, with Kemi Badenoch warning the sector’s future is “at serious risk”.
The UK Tory leader made the comments during a visit to Aberdeenshire on Wednesday morning, where she warned Labour’s “fanaticism” would lead to the end of the UK’s energy security by the end of the decade.
During the visit, Ms Badenoch attacked the “anti-growth policies” of Labour at Westminster and the SNP government in Holyrood, saying they were leading to oil and gas workers losing their jobs.
She said: “Scotland, and the whole United Kingdom, faces a growing oil and gas emergency thanks to Labour’s inability to put our national interest first.
“By the end of Labour’s first term in office, it’s not inconceivable that Scotland’s oil and gas sector will be at serious risk, with domestic production currently set to half by 2030.
“That would be a shocking indictment of Labour’s energy policy, and a dangerous act of economic self-sabotage.
“Enough is enough. Keir Starmer must find the backbone to ditch [energy secretary] Ed Miliband’s net zero fanaticism, which is forcing up bills and driving away industry.”
Ms Badenoch has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to scrap the windfall tax when she sets out the 2026/27 UK Budget this month. The Conservatives leader said the Prime Minister should over-rule his energy secretary’s moratorium on new oil and gas licences.
“If the Labour government fails to act, we could be witness to the end of our domestic energy security as we know it,” she said.
Her comments come as Sir Keir Starmer travels to Brazil for the COP30 climate summit.
Last month the Prime Minister told The Scotsman he was “doubling down” on oil and gas being part of the UK’s future energy mix. Sir Keir also hinted the UK government would grant consent for the Rosebank oil field off the coast of Shetland, despite the site’s owners admitting it would create 250 million tonnes of planet-warming gas.
Rosie Hampton, from Friends of the Earth Scotland, described Ms Badenoch’s comments as “a pathetic and desperate attempt to appeal to Trump and oil industry lobbyists”.
She said: “Any oil drilled from the North Sea is owned by the private companies and is sold to the highest bidder on the international market. Increasing extraction will do nothing to reduce the household bills which have been held hostage by greedy energy companies for years now.”
Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift added: “The idea that, after 50 years of drilling, the ageing North Sea can provide us with reliable, and crucially affordable, energy supply is for the birds.”
Becky Kenton-Lake, coalition manager of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, added: “For the Conservatives to continue pushing for more drilling as a way of safeguarding jobs and guaranteeing secure energy supplies is a dangerous distraction from the need for a just transition to renewables and risks the future of those very workers and billpayers they claim to want to protect.
“Touring maximum extraction of what’s left as a solution to rocketing energy bills is both irresponsible and misleading.”
Scottish Energy Secretary Gillian Martin said UK ministers ”must listen carefully” to concerns about the “devastating impacts” of the windfall tax which must end or be reformed.
Ms Martin said: “We’re clear in our support for a just transition for Scotland’s oil and gas sector, which recognises the maturity of the North Sea basin and is in line with our climate change commitments.”
The UK Government has also been approached for comment.
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