There is nothing secure about more North Sea oil
The government’s flagship Energy Independence Bill is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the UK to protect our seas from big oil pollution, writes Hugo Tagholm
We find ourselves at a historic moment for energy and the health of UK seas.
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On Wednesday, the King introduced the government’s flagship Energy Independence Bill to Parliament. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the UK to protect our seas from big oil pollution and secure a cleaner, greener, cheaper, and more secure energy future for us all.
The bill will essentially end new oil and gas exploration in UK seas. And rightfully so. Chasing after the dwindling, hard-to-reach, and environmentally dangerous North Sea oil reserves makes no sense.
Even the executive director of the International Energy Association, Fatih Birol, recently went on record saying that the UK shouldn’t go ahead with most North Sea oil expansion.
It wouldn’t lower bills or secure energy supplies; it would just risk more ocean pollution and catastrophic harm to marine wildlife for the sake of appeasing Big Oil Billionaires and their mates.
The oil industry might not like to hear this truth, but the evidence is weighted against them. The UK should be proud to be leading the way in the ocean energy transition and to keep oil underground. This is nature’s unrivalled carbon capture and storage technology.
Make no mistake, oil industry profiteering has been central to the destruction and devastation caused in our seas for years. From major oil spills like the Braer tanker disaster in 1993 to the dozens of smaller, regular oil spills they cause in and around UK marine protected areas annually.
These harms are the predictable result of prioritising profits over people or the planet. These companies privatise their profits and socialise the harms they cause. We pay the price for that, alongside marine life right around our island nation.
It’s the same whether it’s sewage or oil. Different pollutants and different industries. The same companies that spilt tonnes of oil into UK seas in 2025 are ranked among the companies most intensively lobbying governments on energy policy by the think tank InfluenceMap.
Unsurprisingly, the British public wants change. A new YouGov poll commissioned by Oceana UK found that nearly two-thirds are concerned about the impacts of oil pollution on our seas.
Time and time again, they try to pull the wool over our eyes with claims that these spills are the price we must pay for our energy. Staggeringly, they argue we need more oil. Even the world's largest oil producer, the USA, cannot protect the public from fossil fuel price spikes. So, it’s clear drilling for more risky North Sea oil will do nothing for energy security or the cost of living.
Back to the executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol: “It is up to the government, but these fields would not change much for the UK’s energy security, nor would they change the price of oil and gas. They would not make any significant difference to this crisis.”
New North Sea oil only guarantees more pollution, more harm to our seas and more dither and delay for the progressive North Sea industries that are ready and waiting to develop clean, cheap, renewable energy, and provide jobs and prosperity in coastal communities long into the future.
Our ocean belongs to us all, not a few select companies. Our seas are living systems, cultural anchors, and sources of joy and well-being. We should protect them, cherish them and be proud of them.
The government must hold its course to end new offshore oil and gas. They are right to be first adopters. The UK has always been a nation at the forefront of the industrial revolution, and let’s keep it that way. Leading, not following. Looking forward, not backwards. Having the Churchillian courage to secure the freedom and future of our nation, the prosperity of our communities and ensure thriving seas for generations to come.
The Energy Independence Bill can help make our nation greater and stronger than ever and bring an ocean of hope for the future.
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Hugo Tagholm is Director of the charity Oceana UK, which is fighting for UK seas to get the protection they deserve.
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