Today in Parliament, I called on the Government to put a halt to the licensing of new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea.

Rishi Sunak’s reckless plans to greenlight hundreds of new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea is a deeply dangerous move that will only further tarnish the UK’s credibility as a global leader on climate change. The International Energy Agency has been crystal clear that there can be no more fossil fuel projects if we are to remain with 1.5 degrees of warming yet this Tory Government has repeatedly shown that it is not interested in protecting the livelihoods of people across the UK, as well as billions of people in the global south who are highly vulnerable to climate change despite contributing little to the crisis.

Last week, I joined calls across the House of Commons and House of Lords, in writing to the Prime Minister to urge him to end the licensing of new oil and gas fields, commit to providing climate finance to developing countries and back the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, an international coalition of governments and partners working together to facilitate oil and gas production phase-out. The Alliance already includes Wales as well our allies France, Spain and Ireland. If the UK is to regain its status as a leader in fighting climate change, membership of this alliance is crucial in helping the UK fully transition to clean energy.

The full letter and its signatories can be found here.

The UK should be leading by example by playing its part in the global effort to combat climate change, but this Tory Government continues to turn its back on the world, further entrenching the UK’s complicity in worsening the crisis and leaving vulnerable communities and countries without the support they need to become more resilient to a changing climate.

A Labour government will never shy away from playing its part on the frontlines against the climate crisis by leading at home and leading across the world and I will do all I can to hold ensure the UK does not shy away from playing it’s role in protecting our planet. 

You can watch my full question here or read the text on Hansard here.