The Scottish Conservatives have demanded Keir Starmer sack Ed Miliband as his party’s climate change and net zero spokesman over his “ruinous” and “ignorant” oil and gas policy.
Ahead of the UK Labour leader’s visit to Scotland on Monday, Shadow Net Zero, Energy and Transport Secretary Liam Kerr said the Ed Miliband-devised position shows “breath-taking ignorance” and plays fast and loose with 90,000 Scottish jobs.
Reports in The Times quoted one senior Labour figure as saying, “Ed Miliband would prefer there to be a tap in the North Sea and you just turn it off.”
Liam Kerr called the approach “naïve”, warning that Labour’s ideological opposition to new oil and gas would “betray” highly skilled workers in the North East of Scotland.
He also highlighted Scottish Labour’s failure to distance themselves from the policy, citing a motion brought forward by Monica Lennon MSP in the Scottish Parliament last year which called on members to oppose the approval of all new oil and gas projects. Seven of her Labour colleagues – including North East MSP Mercedes Villalba and former leader Richard Leonard – backed the motion.
Asked about fears of job losses as a result of Labour’s plans to ban new developments in an interview with Sophy Ridge this (Sunday) morning, Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar appeared to back Keir Starmer’s plans, calling the Labour position a “positive policy”. It comes after Liam Kerr wrote to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar asking for clarity on the Scottish Labour position.
Liam Kerr says that the plans prove Labour have joined the SNP and Greens in “turning their back” on the oil and gas industry in the North Sea.
Scottish Conservative shadow net zero, energy and transport secretary Liam Kerr MSP, said: “Ed Miliband’s influence over Keir Starmer has led to a ruinous policy being drawn up for our oil and gas industry, as Labour have joined the SNP and Greens in turning their back on North Sea oil and gas.
“Ed Miliband’s reckless position – which would throw up to 90,000 highly skilled workers in the North East under a bus pretty much overnight – has no place in government.
“Yet incredibly, his misguided views are alive and well in Scottish Labour, too. Only last year more than a third of their MSPs – including one who is supposed to represent the North East – backed calls to block future oil and gas developments.
“This naïve approach displays breath-taking ignorance of the climate emergency, the need for energy security, and plays fast and loose with tens of thousands of UK jobs.
“That is the definition of economic and environmental illiteracy. We all want a just transition to net zero, but we don’t yet have the capacity from renewables to meet our energy needs. Halting domestic oil and gas production now would force us to import fossil fuels from overseas at huge cost, increasing our carbon footprint in the process and betraying highly-skilled UK workers.
“Keir Starmer should show some leadership by ditching these ignorant plans and sacking the man who apparently devised them. Ed Miliband should pay for this ignorant and economically illiterate policy with his job.”
Notes:
A senior Labour Figure told The Times, “Ed Miliband would prefer there to be a tap in the North Sea and you just turn it off […] That’s not going to happen.” (The Times, 5 June 2023, link)
Seven Labour MSPs supported a motion by Monica Lennon, which included calls to oppose all new oil and gas development. The motion, which was submitted in May 2022, supported ‘calls for the UK Government to reject the plans for the Jackdaw gas field and all new oil and gas field licensing and developments’. (S6M-04329, 12 May 2022, link)
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday 18th June, Anas Sarwar appeared to back Keir Starmer’s policy. Asked on Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News about fears of job losses with Labour's plans to ban new oil and gas developments, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: "I think we have won the argument and won the case for a positive policy that's going to deliver the green transformation for Scotland and indeed the whole of the UK." (Sky News, 18 June 2023, link)