Alok Sharma has expressed his opposition to Rishi Sunak’s oil and gas bill, stating that it undermines the government’s commitment to fulfilling its global climate obligations.
The proposed legislation, which will be discussed in parliament on Monday, aims to establish a yearly licensing system for oil and gas exploration agreements. This bill has sparked significant controversy within the environmentally-conscious faction of the Conservative party. On Friday, former minister Chris Skidmore announced his resignation as an MP in response to the bill.
Sharma, who served as the president of the 2021 Cop26 Glasgow climate summit, rarely goes against the government’s decisions. However, he expressed strong criticism towards the bill.
During an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he stated that he will not support this bill. He also expressed concern that the bill may perpetuate the negative perception of the UK not taking sufficient action on climate change.
He stated that there was evidence of inconsistency and insincerity in policy changes during the previous autumn. Despite the UK government agreeing to move away from fossil fuels at Cop28, the bill in question seeks to increase oil and gas licenses, contradicting their international commitments. As a result, he will not be supporting the bill.
Zac Goldsmith, a member of the Conservative party and former government official in charge of environmental issues, advised fellow Conservative MPs to take inspiration from Sharma and vote against the bill. He expressed to the Guardian that with the upcoming election, it is not the time for colleagues to blindly follow a leadership that will soon no longer be in power.
“This vote is about something so much more important than the average vote, and members will not be able to sanitise their records in the years to come. Some will be ex-MPs, others will cling on, but all of them will want to be able to tell their children and grandchildren that they were on the right side of history. It really is as simple as that.”
The government asserts that the bill will improve energy security and reduce energy costs. However, Sharma disagrees with this statement.
He stated that the government claims this bill is meant to safeguard energy security. However, the truth is that private companies own the oil and gas extracted from the North Sea, so the government cannot dictate who they sell to. Additionally, since the price of oil and gas is determined globally, it will not result in a decrease in domestic energy costs.
The government has faced backlash from both scientists and the independent Climate Change Committee for their stance on the bill. Recently, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt received criticism from the CCC for his statement that the government can still achieve their climate goals while permitting increased oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.
Recently, it was disclosed that despite initial promises to utilize the oil within the UK, the government acknowledges that the private companies responsible for extracting the oil will likely sell the majority of it internationally. In regard to this, the government stated that it is not preferable to mandate private companies to allocate North Sea oil and gas for domestic consumption. This statement was made in response to a question posed by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Member of Parliament from the Labour party.
Source: theguardian.com
