Protesters called on Labour conference to ‘hold the line’ on climate-wrecking Rosebank

Campaigners from Fossil Free London staged a protest at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday 30 September over the climate-wrecking Rosebank oil field.

Rosebank oil field: Labour Party conference protest

Activists sat outside of the conference entrance ahead of Starmer’s speech, holding a long red line:

BREAKING: we're outside the @UKLabour conference holding the line on NO NEW OIL AND GAS.

The government must stand firm against fossil fuel lobbyists and not approve the Rosebank oil field.#StopRosebank pic.twitter.com/4DdiPzG7XZ

— Fossil Free London (@fossilfreeLDN) September 30, 2025

Placards read “Hold the line on Rosebank. No new oil and gas”:

Norwegian state oil giant Equinor is the primary owner of the project. The oil field would produce more carbon dioxide than the annual emissions of the world’s 28 lowest-income countries combined.

The fossil fuel company will sell the vast majority of its oil on the international market for export, neither lowering energy bills nor increasing energy security here in the UK. The taxpayer is set to pick up the bill for most of its development costs. In fact, the vast majority of Rosebank’s profits will flow towards Norway’s substantial oil fund.

The ‘defining test of this government’s action on the climate crisis’

The potential mega-polluter could also send over £250m towards Delek Group – an Israeli fuel conglomerate that the UN has flagged for human rights violations in Palestine. The Norwegian Consumer Authority is investigating Equinor for failing to conduct proper due diligence over these links.

In January, a court ruled that the approval of Rosebank was unlawful, with the oil field’s approval overturned. The UK government will now decide to re-approve or reject the field in the coming months, after Equinor submitted an updated assessment for the UK’s largest undeveloped oil and gas field last Friday.

Director of Fossil Free London Robin Wells said:

Rosebank will be the defining test of this government’s action on the climate crisis. The importance of this decision cannot be underestimated. We’re fast running out of time to avert the worst impacts, that will in the best case wipe out billions of lives and in the worst case end the very existence of human society.

Labour must not cave into the anti-science, pro-oil and gas agenda of Trump and Farage, that serves only to line the pockets of fossil fuel billionaires. Instead, they must act for us: scrap Rosebank, invest in a just transition, and let us live. We are demanding our lives. Keir Starmer, you must stop Rosebank.’

Featured images supplied