Kemi Badenoch tells Labour to bring back North Sea drilling amid 'oil and gas emergency'
With the Prime Minister at the Cop30 climate summit, the Tory leader demanded he "ditch Ed Miliband's net zero fanaticism"
Kemi Badenoch has called on the Government to bring back drilling in the North Sea as she warns of an "oil and gas emergency".
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While the Prime Minister is at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil, the Tory leader has claimed Labour's current policies could put the future of the energy sector at "serious risk".
She challenged her opposite number Sir Keir Starmer to "find the backbone to ditch Ed Miliband's net zero fanaticism," claiming this is increasing energy bills.
Mrs Badenoch also called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to scrap the Energy Profits Levy – also known as the windfall tax – in her Budget later this month.
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The tax on the profits of oil and gas producers was increased to 38% last year.
In a joint letter to Ms Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday, trade bodies Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and Scottish Renewables both said it must be urgently replaced.
Mrs Badenoch was due to travel to the north east of Scotland on Wednesday to launch her party’s new campaign on the issue, but her plans were hampered because of fog.
She said: “Enough is enough. Keir Starmer must find the backbone to ditch Ed Miliband’s net zero fanaticism, which is forcing up bills and driving away industry.
"Instead, the Prime Minister should do what our economy needs, scrap the Energy Profits Levy and end the moratorium on new licences in the North Sea.
"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 at present "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," she added.
Andrew Bowie, the MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and the shadow Scottish secretary, said on Wednesday: "We’re seeing companies closing, people leaving the country to find work elsewhere.
"It's quite clear our energy security is being undermined.
"For all those reasons, we’re declaring an emergency in our oil and gas sector."
Asked if he is going against the science on climate change, he said: “We’re not even questioning the existence of climate change.
"We’re not climate change sceptics, we’re net zero sceptics."
A Labour Party spokesperson accused Mrs Badenoch of "doubling down on the same failed Tory energy policy that caused the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation."
They said: "The Conservatives' anti-growth, anti-jobs, anti-investment position on clean energy would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, leave Britain reliant on insecure expensive fossil fuels, and lock families into higher bills for generations to come."
The Tory leader also came under fire from environmental campaigners, who accused her of adopting US President Donald Trump's "drill baby drill" approach.
Rosie Hampton, oil and gas campaigns manager at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "This is a pathetic and desperate attempt to appeal to Trump and oil industry lobbyists, because nobody else considers it a credible plan.
"The 'drill baby drill' approach to fossil fuels being pushed by Trump and his imitators will kill people by worsening climate breakdown."