Labour causing 'untold damage' to Aberdeen as Ed Miliband to declare 'era of fossil fuel security is over'
Ed Miliband will declare today that the 'era of fossil fuel security is over'
UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has been accused of pressing ahead with “untold damage” to the North East’s oil and gas sector as he is poised to warn the “era of fossil fuel security is over” in a keynote speech today.
The strongest indication yet that Mr Miliband is doubling down on his government's vow to end new drilling in the North Sea comes as UK Labour ministers are poised to finally break the link between electricity and gas prices to protect households and businesses from gas price spikes.
The UK Energy Secretary is expected to outline measures to “double down not back down” on the shift to clean energy, including speeding up the rollout of renewables and electrifying heating and transport south of the Border.
Speaking at a “national growth debate”, Mr Miliband will answer critics who have pushed a rethink on net zero and more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea by warning that ignoring two fossil fuel crises in less than five years “would be completely irresponsible”.
Mr Miliband is expected to tell the Good Growth Foundation event: “As we face the second fossil fuel shock in less than five years, the lesson for our country is clear: The era of fossil fuel security is over, and the era of clean energy security must come of age.
“For Britain and so many other countries, clean energy is now the only route to financial security, energy security and national security.
“While some have said we have gone too far and too fast, I profoundly disagree.
“In response to recent events, our action must now be faster, deeper and more wide-ranging.
“That is why we will double down not back down on our mission for clean energy.”
But warnings have been issued over the North Sea oil and gas industry being left behind in any ramping up of the energy transition.
Enrique Cornejo, energy policy director at Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) added: “This is not a simple choice between oil and gas and renewable energy. We must produce both at home to build a secure and resilient energy future."
Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative energy spokesperson, Douglas Lumsden, said: "It beggars belief that net-zero zealot Ed Miliband is doubling down on his anti-oil and gas stance when it's doing untold damage to our economy and energy security.
"Labour's ban on new drilling in the North Sea - which the SNP supports - is costing 1,000 jobs per month and making us even more reliant on imported fossil fuels with a far greater carbon footprint.
"When household fuel bills are going through the roof, it's lunacy to turn our back on a plentiful energy source under our own seabed.”
Russell Borthwick, chief executive at Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said that Labour’s ban on new drilling was costing 1,000 jobs a month in the oil and gas sector.
He added: “Oil and gas still accounts for more than 70 per cent of the UK’s energy needs today. For as long as that remains the case, we should be producing as much as we responsibly can from the North Sea.
“That means a fair tax regime, a regulatory system that can actually approve new projects, and a willingness to support future drilling where it serves the national interest.”
There have been calls from the Tories and Reform UK to increase supplies of oil and gas from the North Sea, and to bring down bills by scrapping measures to help the UK shift to a “net-zero” clean economy, such as new renewables and heat pump subsidies.
Last week, Donald Trump repeated his calls for the UK to ramp up North Sea drilling.
But the International Energy Agency, the United Nations and climate scientists have consistently warned that new oil and gas developments are not consistent with global targets to cut emissions.
Consumers face high prices at the petrol pumps and looming energy bill rises in the next price cap period from July as a result of disruption to global energy markets caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Key to Mr Miliband’s plan is breaking the link between gas and electricity prices in the face of volatile fossil fuel prices setting the cost of wholesale electricity the majority of the time.
The SNP government at Holyrood has been demanding that gas and electricity prices be decoupled for years, and was a manifesto commitment by Labour to do so.
The Labour UK government is proposing a voluntary move by “legacy” clean power generators, which supply around a third of Britain’s power, on to fixed-price contracts, with the Treasury expected to provide tax incentives to encourage them to switch.
It is hoped the new contracts will deliver benefits on consumers’ bills over the next 12 months, though officials are not yet able to say what savings could be delivered.
READ MORE: SNP's climate, oil and gas fence-sitting is easy option for John Swinney ahead of divisive election
In his speech, Mr Miliband will say: “To ignore one fossil fuel crisis and carry on with business as usual, as some wanted to do, was wrong.
“To ignore two in less than five years would be completely irresponsible.
“And it would be even more irresponsible because unlike the twin fossil fuel shocks of the 1970s, there is now a compelling alternative in the form of clean energy.
READ MORE: SNP warned 'significant risks' in net zero plans as fears raised over lack of heat pumps strategy
“An alternative that cannot be disrupted by foreign wars because it comes from our own wind, sun and nuclear resources.”
Stephen Flynn, SNP Westminster Leader and SNP candidate for Aberdeen Deeside & North Kincardine, said: “Ed Miliband promised that the Labour Party would bring bills down by £300 so the public will be understandably wary of his ability to actually deliver on these new pre-election promises.
“The people of Scotland know that we already produce more renewable energy than we consume, as well as more gas than we consume, yet on Westminster’s watch we have seen no benefit at all on their energy bills.
“Ed Miliband is just another Westminster politician talking about what he will do with our energy - it is Scotland’s energy and it should be in Scotland’s hands, not in those of a Westminster government that has milked £350bn from our natural resources and sent nothing back in return.
“Energy rich Scotland is home to fuel poor Scots who pay some of the highest energy bills in Europe while job losses mount in the thousands - that simple injustice is exactly why we need a fresh start with independence to use our vast energy resources to create a wealthier, fairer, Scotland.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.