As the Guardian has noted in an email this morning:
After weeks of speculation, the secretary of state for energy and net zero, Miatta Fahnbulleh, approved drilling in the Jackdaw gas field this morning.
In a statement Fahnbulleh stressed that the government remains “resolute” in achieving net zero by 2050.
It has also announced a new wealth fund that will invest tax revenues from North Sea oil and gas into low-carbon projects.
Of course, anyone concerned about our environment will be furious about this. You cannot claim to be green or to be concerned about climate change while approving a new oilfield in the North Sea.
Miatta Fahnbulleh's credibility is destroyed forever. Formerly chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, she has now sided with the oil and gas industry for the sake of keeping a ministerial red box. That is what hypocrisy looks like.
And in terms of Labour's political support, the message of this is quite clear. People and planet do not matter. City interests do. Enough people will remember that to make a difference to its fortunes.
I am not surprised by this decision. It has been long trailed, quite deliberately. That, however, does not alter the fact that this represents a serious error of judgement.
We have a duty to ourselves and all the generations that will follow us to transition away from fossil fuels that are creating the crisis that is now unfolding around us, and the pathetic individuals who now make up our government have decided to make matters worse.
I hope they can live with their consciences. I couldn't have done so if I had been a party to this decision.
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And will not make any noticeable difference to energy security, emoluments in Aberdeen or exchequer receipts
Very disappointing……………..
Meanwhile in the world of housing development, some makes/suppliers of air source heat pumps (ASHP) are reporting shortages – shortages of the cylinders for them too which is going to impact on delivery.
The post war institutions set up to bring order have failed us. We have conflict everywhere and chaos.
And this Orwellian world we live in is no soviet style socialist dystopia is it?
How surprising!?! I wonder why it took so long? I’m sure it was nothing to do with a recent by-election in London.
I came to the conclusion many many months ago that the decisions to approve both Jackdaw and Rosebank were effectively made a long long time ago. Otherwise the companies funding and building the facilities would not have proceeded with the massive investments required to bring both projects to the point of late commissioning. Oil & gas companies acutely access technical / economic / political project risks – political nods & winks MUST have been made years ago.
The naughty lefties said Burnham was Starmer Mk 2, and centrists bombarded social media with derision. Voila!
I’m no energy expert but would this be OK if we’d be replacing imported gas – so net zero unaffected – and the revenue to the exchequer was 100% used in funding additional renewables thus accelerating transition? Tin hat in place.
But that will not happen.
Starmerism continues
Not a surprise. This government is useless on all fronts. I assume now that anyone who switched from the Greens to Labour in the polls will realise their mistake! The budget will also do the same for those who thought that Andy Burnham would be different from Keir Starmer hes not in policy terms he is just full of wind!
I’m really disappointed by this – I thought her background in (what I think of as) the World Development Movement would have stopped her taking such a step. Who’s been leaning on her?