UK Labour and opposition leader Keir Starmer will announce proposals to block all new North Sea oil and gas developments and limit borrowing to green investment, the Sunday Times reported, citing an unidentified person in the Labour party.
Starmer is expected to set out a net zero energy policy, which would include the pledge to ban new North Sea licenses, in Scotland next month. The policy will be one of Starmer’s five key pledges to the electorate, the newspaper said.
Additionally, Starmer will announce that a Labour government would only borrow to invest in green enterprises. The party will set out its fiscal plans in full at the election, the person said.
When asked if Labour planned to block new North Sea energy projects, shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jon Ashworth said the party would be announcing details on its energy policy in the coming weeks.
“But we know we’ve got to move to more renewable sources of energy, it’s important for our climate change commitments,” Ashworth said during an appearance on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. “It’s also the way in which we can bring energy bills down for consumers.”
Labour would continue to use existing oil and gas wells over the coming decades and manage them sustainably as it works to transform the UK into a clean-energy superpower, the newspaper said.
Read more: North Sea Offshore Contractors to Start 48-Hour Strikes in June
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--With assistance from Joel Leon.
(Adds comments by Jon Ashworth in fourth and fifth paragraphs.)
