Northern Mayors call on Government to drop Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill

The legislation is due to be debated in Parliament on Monday.

Rishi Sunak said he wants to ‘max out’ the oil and gas reserves in the North Sea (PA)

Northern Mayors are calling on the Government to drop a parliamentary Bill that is designed to encourage more licence applications for extracting oil and gas in the North Sea.

They say it will not achieve the Government’s stated aims of improving energy security but will worsen climate change and undermine the UK’s international reputation while failing to lower household energy bills.

In response to a freedom of information (FOI) request, the Government said the definition of energy security “remains a source of academic debate”, but still named the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz) after the term.

It referenced the International Energy Agency’s definition which describes it as the uninterrupted supply of energy sources at an affordable price and the Government gave examples of it in practice such as balancing out renewables when there is no wind or sun and reducing reliance on international markets influenced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

New oil and gas will do little to lower household bills

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire

Ministers have defended the Offshore Petroleum Licensing (OPL) Bill, and their support for more North Sea oil and gas more generally, by arguing that oil extracted from UK waters will reduce the amount that will be imported.

Critics have said this would not happen as most of the oil is exported with a Global Witness analysis finding that exports increased from 60% to 80% over the last two decades despite the UK awarding 1,680 licences for North Sea extraction.

The Government said this analysis is flawed as not all licences relate to the same amount of oil and most of the exports are to Europe where the fossil fuel is refined into products for the UK.

A spokesperson added that it is “common sense” for the Government to support the UK’s oil and gas sector, saying it means less emissions than if oil was shipped in from abroad.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, called the OPL Bill “a distraction from investing in the future of communities across the north of England” and “a complete insult”.

He said: “While the country grapples with the wettest winter in 130 years – with devastating floods causing untold damage – the Earth just witnessed its hottest year ever in 2023, and increasing energy costs are piling pressures on household budgets.

“New oil and gas licences will not address these issues or take Britain towards energy independence, since what is extracted will predominantly be sold on the international market to the highest bidder.”

Chris Skidmore, previously the Conservatives’ champion for net zero, quit the party earlier this month in protest at the upcoming Bill, while Alok Sharma, the Cop26 president, has said he will not back it.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said the Bill “marks a screeching U-turn away from commitments at Cop28”, where countries agreed to move away from fossil fuels for the first time in the conference’s near 30-year history.

She said: “In West Yorkshire, we have the buy-in of businesses to invest in the green jobs of the future, but this mixed messaging from the Government is undermining confidence at a dangerous time for our planet.

“New oil and gas will do little to lower household bills, whilst Labour’s plan for a national energy company built on homegrown renewables will make us truly energy independent.”

The Mayors’ comments come in support of an open letter from the Climate All-Party Parliamentary Group to Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho, which called on her to abandon the Bill, knowing that the previous year was the hottest on record because of rising greenhouse gas emissions.

Jamie Driscoll, Mayor of North of Tyne and who stands as an independent after leaving Labour last year, also opposes the OPL Bill, as does Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool.

Mr Rotheram said: “At a time when millions of vulnerable households are facing fuel poverty, what they desperately need is a commitment to ambitious, forward-thinking investment in renewable energy that will deliver the security and affordability this country needs.

“Instead, we have a Government that is attempting to railroad through plans to approve more damaging extractions of fossil fuels. For the sake of our economy – and our planet – I urge the Government to reconsider its proposal.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We will still need oil and gas for decades to come, even when we reach net zero in 2050, as data from the independent Climate Change Committee shows.

“It is common sense for us to back our oil and gas sector, making the most of our own home-grown advantages, rather than shipping in more fuels from foreign regimes with higher emissions.

“Labour’s irresponsible plans to turn off the taps would send 200,000 jobs abroad, decimate communities and sacrifice tens of billions of tax that we can spend on helping people with the cost of living, all for the sake of ideology.”