Sir Keir Starmer has said that “oil and gas is going to be a big part of the future” for decades to come as he would not “pre-empt” the decision on the Rosebank oil field.
The Prime Minister said that “we do need to transition to clean power” while on a visit to the UK National Nuclear Laboratory, and also pledged to “build, baby, build” as he vowed to take on the “blockers” holding up development.
Last week, a judge upheld a legal challenge by environmental campaigners against the decision to grant consent to the Rosebank oil field north west of Shetland, and the Jackdaw gas field off Aberdeen.
Asked whether he was minded to grant development at Rosebank, the Prime Minister told Sky News that the licence has to be considered in the light of a new application, and added: “What we said at the election was we weren’t going to interfere with existing licences this process started obviously before the election.”
He later said: “But the mindset is we know that oil and gas is going to be a big part of the future for many decades to come.
“We do need to transition to clean power, but in relation to this particular licence it was granted in the first place it’s going back through that process.
“I can’t pre-empt the decision but you know we did say that where licences have already been granted we wouldn’t interfere with them.”
Greenpeace and Uplift brought the challenge to the Court of Session in Edinburgh and argued the UK Government and North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) had acted unlawfully when granting consent to the projects, as environmental impact assessments did not take into account downstream emissions resulting from the burning of the extracted fuels.
On the same visit the Prime Minister was asked by the BBC whether he would say “build baby build”, given President Donald Trump’s call to “drill, baby, drill”.
Sir Keir responded: “I say build, baby, build. I say we’re going to take on the blockers so we can build… we’re already changing the rules on planning to make sure infrastructure (can be built) more quickly.”
Sir Keir’s visit to the laboratory in Lancashire, alongside Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, comes as ministers have pledged to create thousands of highly skilled jobs by reforming planning rules to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors
The PM has announced that more nuclear power plants will be approved across England and Wales. The reforms will clear a path for so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) to be built for the first time in the UK – which the Government said would help to deliver clean, secure and more affordable energy.
Sir Keir also insisted that he still believed energy bills could be cut by up to £300 by 2030 under the Government’s plans.
He told Sky News: “That is our aim, that’s what we are driving towards. It depends on decisions like today and pushing them forward because this is the future – to stop Putin putting his boot on our throat, which is what is happening all the time we’re exposed to the international market – we can control our market.
“We said we’d aim for £300, up to £300 and that’s what I want to achieve.
“I also want stability, I want those bills to be low for a prolonged period of time because many businesses and many families have suffered from bills going up and down. We can’t have that volatility.”
