Kemi Badenoch launches 'Get Britain Drilling' campaign as Middle East war rages
Kemi Badenoch has launched a campaign calling for Britain to maximise the use of its oil and gas reserves amid pressure on energy supplies due to the war in the Middle East.
The Conservatives will put a “Get Britain Drilling” campaign at the heart of their proposals for bringing down the spike in energy prices caused by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil
Tory leader Mrs Badenoch and her party initially called for Britain to join America and Israel in their war against Iran.
They have since turned their focus to calling for the UK to tap its oil and gas stores to beat price rises, though ministers argue the internationally set price will not be impacted by such action.
Today, Mrs Badenoch launched a three-point plan to “get Britain drilling” which includes an end to the moratorium on new oil and gas licences, ditching the windfall tax on energy profits, and more financial support for the fossil fuels industry.
Launching the campaign, the Opposition leader said: “Labour’s ban on new oil and gas drilling licences was stupid when they put it in their manifesto, in the middle of an energy crisis it’s completely crazy.
“Drilling our own oil and gas is about energy security, it’s about financial security, it’s about national security.
“It’s more jobs, good for business and provides tax revenues that could be used to bring down bills.”
Mrs Badenoch plans to visit an oil rig off Aberdeen tomorrow as she launches the campaign.
The Conservative Party plans to announce further measures in the coming week, aimed at both bringing down living costs and energy bills for businesses.
But Tessa Khan, executive director of campaign group Uplift, said the Conservatives’ plan would do nothing to lower bills.
Pointing to research suggesting hundreds of North Sea licences granted under the previous government had produced just 36 days’ worth of gas, Ms Khan said Mrs Badenoch was “peddling a dangerous fantasy”.
She said: “Politicians who refuse to acknowledge the reality of the declining North Sea are endangering our security and economy. Not only that, they are betraying workers who need long-term, secure jobs – which will only now come from renewables, not some pipedream.
“This is vapid, political game playing at the expense of ordinary people.”
Meanwhile, a recent University of Oxford study said that claims that drilling in the North Sea will significantly cut energy bills are “sheer fantasy”.
Analysis by the university’s Smith School showed a UK fully powered by renewable energy, with electricity coming from clean sources and people using technology such as electric heat pumps for their home heating, could save households up to £441 a year on bills.
In contrast, maximising oil and gas extraction from the North Sea would save households just £16 to £82 a year – and that saving would only be delivered if the tax revenues collected from fossil fuel companies were redistributed to families to offset their energy bills.
Michael Shanks, Labour’s Energy Minister, said: “Kemi Badenoch wanted to plunge Britain head first into war without a seconds thought about the consequences. She has proven herself completely unfit for high office throughout this crisis.
"Badenoch's Conservative Party left families with rocketing energy bills - and they completely failed to deliver energy security across 14 years in power. Her own shadow energy secretary admitted that new licenses in the North Sea would not take a penny off bills.
"The Conservatives and Reform want to outsource Britain's energy security to fossil fuel markets over which we have no control. Meanwhile Labour is bringing down bills next week and investing in clean, homegrown power to bring bills down for good."