UK Labour leader Keir Starmer plans to block all new North Sea projects: Media report

LONDON – Britain’s Labour and opposition leader Keir Starmer will announce proposals to block all new North Sea oil and gas developments and limit borrowing to green investments, The Sunday Times reported, citing an unidentified person in the Labour Party.

Mr Starmer is expected to set out a net-zero energy policy, which would include the pledge to

ban new North Sea licences,

in Scotland in June.

The policy will be one of Mr Starmer’s five key pledges to the electorate, the newspaper said.

Additionally, Mr Starmer will announce that a Labour government would borrow to invest only in green enterprises. The party will set out its fiscal plans in full at the next 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,” Mr Ashworth said during an appearance on Sky News’ 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 Britain into a clean-energy superpower, the newspaper said. BLOOMBERG