The least Miliband could do is stand against new North Sea oil drilling

Energy secretary Ed Miliband is facing renewed pressure to enable new privatised oil drilling in the North Sea. But the right-wing press appears to have jumped the gun in reporting that he is poised to license such climate-destroying activity. And prime minister Keir Starmer has said the decision lies with Miliband.

North Sea — The war on Iran, just an excuse for Big Oil

The noise around more North Sea licenses is similar to the ‘greedflation’ companies engage in when they can use volatile international markets as cover for more profit.

This time, the war on Iran is an excuse for more drilling rather than just when companies put up energy bills by more than increased costs.

New oil and gas drilling in the North Sea will be owned by private companies and sold on international markets to the highest bidder. There is no reason it will reduce UK energy bills or shield the country from the outcomes of the war on Iran.

On top of that, fossil fuel giants have already extracted over 90% of oil and gas in the North Sea.

The UK Energy Research Centre has said:

Squeezing additional oil and gas production from the UK may be technically possible, but it will have negligible impact on the UK cost of living.

Green energy: the way forward

It’s clear that speeding up the transition to renewable energy would have much more than a “negligible” impact on UK bills. In fact, a publicly owned Green New Deal would be the fastest and most equitable way to bring in green energy.

In Keir Starmer’s campaign to become Labour leader, he pledged to “put the Green New Deal at the heart of everything we do”. But it turned out this was merely a con to get the party’s membership on side.

With that in mind, the least Labour can do is stand against new North Sea drilling.

Featured image via OurFutureEnergy