Alok Sharma attacks Rishi Sunak’s ‘smoke and mirrors’ oil bill

Senior Tory Sir Alok Sharma has said he will not support Rishi Sunak’s “smoke and mirrors” oil and gas drilling bill.

The former cabinet member and Cop26 president said the legislation is a “total distraction, which frankly changes nothing”.

And he accused the PM of “chopping and changing” climate policies, reinforcing “the unfortunate perception about the UK rolling back from climate action”.

It comes as senior Tory MP Chris Skidmore formally submitted his resignation in protest over Mr Sunak’s oil and gas drilling plans – triggering yet another by-election headache for the PM.

The ex-energy minister said Mr Sunak’s climate stance would “destroy the reputation of the UK as a climate leader”, having announced on Friday that he planned to stand down.

The MP for Kingswood in Gloucestershire formally quit the Tory whip and his seat on Monday, arguing that his constituents “deserve the right” to elect someone new if he could no longer back the government.

On Monday, Mr Sunak’s government will try to pass legislation requiring the North Sea regulator to invite applications for new oil and gas licences on an annual basis instead of the five-year average currently in place.

Critics have accused the government of backing new production as a way to create a dividing line with Labour ahead of this year’s general election.

Just 1 per cent of the oil from new licences granted in the North Sea would be used in the UK in 2030, according to analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

The ECIU said the bill will therefore have little impact on Britain’s energy security and do nothing to bring down household bills – which have soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Former energy secretary Mr Sharma told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I will not be voting for this bill.

“As it is currently drafted, this bill is a total distraction… it is a smoke and mirrors bill which, frankly, changes nothing.”

The MP said the North Sea Transition Authority can already grant licences when it deems necessary and “that will not change”.

He added: “What this bill does do is reinforce that unfortunate perception about the UK rolling back from climate action. We saw this last autumn with the chopping and changing of some policies and actually not being serious about meeting our international commitments.

“Just a few weeks ago at COP 28, the 28th UN climate conference, the UK government signed up to transition away from fossil fuels.

“This bill is about doubling down on granting more oil and gas production licences. It’s actually the opposite of what we agreed to do… so I won’t be supporting it.”

Mr Skidmore’s exit sets up a contest in the blue wall seat in February or March. Labour came second in the seat in 2019 – so it would seem to provide Sir Keir Starmer’s party with an ideal opportunity to deliver a fresh blow to Mr Sunak.

In his formal resignation letter to the chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Mr Skidmore said the PM and his ministers should be looking to the long-term – not “playing short-term politics” with legislation that does “so much to destroy the reputation of the UK as a climate leader”.

He added: “No-one has ever denied that we will not need the oil and gas we are using today, but to seek to open up future new sources of fossil fuels, that will be sold on international markets and owned by foreign companies, will do nothing for our energy security.”

A group of 30 politicians, including Mr Skidmore and Lord Zac Goldsmith, wrote to energy secretary Claire Coutinho urging the government to drop the bill – saying that it is “diametrically opposed” to the global drive away from fossil fuels.

Meanwhile former Tory environment secretary Lord Goldsmith, who quit over Mr Sunak’s “apathy” toward climate change, urged Conservative MPs to reject the bill.

“Conservatives are facing almost certain defeat at the election and now is not the time for colleagues to be slavishly obedient to a leadership that will not be there in a matter of months,” he said on X, formerly Twitter. The peer urged MPs to be on “the right side of history”.

The Conservative Environment Network, a group representing around 150 Tories, said the benefits of the new bill “should not be overstated”. Director Sam Hall said oil and gas will still be needed during the transition to net zero, “albeit in shrinking amounts”.

He said priority for energy security and tackling climate change should be to “rapidly reduce our demand for oil and gas” by building more renewables, improving energy efficiency and electrifying more of the economy.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the offshore oil and gas bill was a “waste of time” designed to create a dividing line with his party.

“It isn’t going to make any difference at all – zero impact – on energy bills,” Sir Keir told reporters as he pointed to comments from former ministers.

Sir Keir said: “What you’ve got is a government that’s wasting its time trying to pass legislation to create a dividing line with the Labour party rather than to solve the problem.”

No 10 declined to say whether the aim of the bill is to increase the number of licences granted.

Challenged over the fact the oil will be sold abroad rather than reserved for the domestic market, the official argued is is “preferable to have an international market which has more oil and gas from the UK and other countries which are stable, which are not authoritarian regimes”.

An energy department spokesperson said Britain still needed oil and gas “for decades to come”.

They added: “These new licenses will not increase carbon emissions above our legally binding carbon budgets, but will provide certainty for industry, support 200,000 jobs and bring in tens of billions of tax that we can invest in the green transition and support people with cost of living.”