The Conservative Party’s most significant attempt yet to draw a dividing line between its policies and Labour’s ahead of the next general election has fallen flat in a matter of days.
On Monday, we reported on Rishi Sunak’s announcement that his government would approve 100 new oil and gas licences for companies wishing to operate in the North Sea. Labour opposes new licences. The prime minister made it clear the new extraction was intended to show his party is far less radical on green policies than Labour, which he said “doesn’t realise … people don’t want to risk the lights going out.”
The rhetoric, which comes as Britons prepare to vote in the next general election, might have been effective in creating the impression of a serious difference between Labour and the Tories had Labour not straight away signalled that it would not use an electoral victory to reverse the measure. Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the House of Commons, is cited in The Daily Telegraph as declaring that her party might be opposed to approving new licences, but would not take these licences away. She told BBC Newsnight:
We will grant no new licences. Obviously oil and gas is going to play a part in our transition to a fully clean, green energy market. But we need to make sure that we are not going to grant any more. It is not okay. The world is on fire.
Labour’s refusal to squash the licences in the event of an election victory has prompted anger from Liberal groups which are already outside of the Labour Party. The Bristol Green Party, for example, said “the Tories are climate criminals, and Labour are no better.” But it is likely to have won a nod of approval from those more sceptical of the ‘net zero’ agenda.
Even without Labour’s de facto acceptance of the new licences, Mr. Sunak’s announcement hardly represented a major shift from his previous position, given his view that the move will simply form part of the continued drive to decarbonisation.
