Rishi Sunak criticises Sir Keir Starmer over ‘weird’ North Sea oil and gasoline ban

Labour’s proposal to ban new oil and gasoline developments within the North Sea is “bizarre” and can solely profit Vladimir Putin, Rishi Sunak has mentioned.

The prime minister accused Sir Keir Starmer of letting “ecozealots” at Just Stop Oil write his vitality coverage after it was revealed the party had received £1.5m from Dale Vince, one of many group’s largest backers.

Labour is because of lay out its plans to dam all new home oil and gasoline developments and spend money on renewables as a substitute throughout a go to to Scotland this month.

Asked whether or not the get together wanted to “come clean” about how its insurance policies have been being formed, Mr Sunak informed reporters: “It does appear that these kind of ecozealots at Just Stop Oil are writing Keir Starmer’s energy policy and, not content with disrupting our summer and cherished sporting events, they are essentially leading us into an energy surrender.

“My view is we must always deal with vitality safety, not weak point and dependency which appears to be the Labour Party’s coverage.

“They are putting ideology ahead of jobs, ahead of investment, and ahead of our energy security – I think that is wrong and it’s not the right policy for the UK.”

He added: “It’s a very weird coverage which says ‘we can’t ban oil and gasoline, we’ll simply ban British oil and gasoline’.

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“The solely those who profit from Keir Starmer’s vitality coverage are dictators and autocrats like Vladimir Putin.”

The Labour chief’s plans are available in stark distinction to the federal government’s coverage, which is to continue to licensing new oil and gas fields in the North Sea to spice up the UK’s vitality safety, regardless of warnings it could compromise local weather targets.

But Sir Keir’s proposal has confronted criticism from the get together’s commerce union backers, who’re terrified of the impression the transition to inexperienced vitality might have on jobs.

The Labour chief tried to allay union considerations on the GMB congress in Brighton on Tuesday, during which he mentioned his get together would not repeat the mistakes which “decimated” coal mining communities in the 1980s along with his plan to part out new oil and gasoline drilling.

The Labour chief pledged to work with unions to “seize the opportunities” of inexperienced vitality to stop mass job losses.

During a Q&A on the GMB congress, it was put to him that his plan to finish new oil and gasoline extraction “is a threat to Scottish jobs and UK energy security”.

The Labour chief responded: “I want to be absolutely clear: oil and gas are going to be part of the mix for decades to come, into the 2050s.

“What I’ll by no means let occur is a repeat of what occurred in coal mining, the place an business got here to an finish and no person had deliberate for the longer term”.

Sir Keir’s look in Brighton got here days after the union’s normal secretary, Gary Smith, called his policy on oil and gas production “naive” and lacking in “intellectual rigour”.

He was joined in his criticism by Unite normal secretary Sharon Graham, who mentioned Labour should be “very clear that they won’t let employees pay the worth” for the transition to renewable vitality.

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The Labour Party has repeatedly defended the donations Mr Vince, whom it has described as a “completely reputable individual” to take money from.

Shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said his party had been “extraordinarily clear on our views on Just Stop Oil”.

“Indeed, Keir Starmer has mentioned of them ‘simply go residence’ as a result of they aren’t truly selling the reason for tackling local weather change,” he mentioned.

“What they are doing is entirely counterproductive and the only debate it’s provoking is about our public order laws.”

But he mentioned Mr Vince – who’s the chairman of League Two soccer workforce Forest Green Rovers – is a “successful businessman” based mostly within the UK.

“He’s a perfectly legitimate person to take money from.

“If he needs to present cash to different causes that is as much as him, however it could hardly be mentioned that this impacts our views as a Labour Party on Just Stop Oil.”