Sir Keir Starmer is standing by a pledge to ban new drilling in the North Sea, despite New Zealand abandoning a similar policy made by ex-PM Jacinda Ardern amid blackout fears. The Telegraph has more.
Labour’s manifesto, due out on Thursday, will feature a pledge to block all new licensing for oil and gas as one of its key energy policies.
The party “will not be issuing licences to explore new [oil and gas] fields as we accelerate to clean power”, a Labour spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.
It follows last weekend’s announcement that New Zealand’s Government was lifting a ban on new oil and gas exploration.
The ban was announced by former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in 2018. “The world has moved on from fossil fuels,” Ardern proclaimed at the time.
New Zealand’s trailblazing policy, which was the first of its kind, became a key inspiration for the Labour Party’s own plan.
However, some in the party are now questioning the commitment after New Zealand resources minister Shane Jones last weekend denounced its own ban as a disaster – and revoked it.
It followed three years of rising energy prices that have left 110,000 households unable to warm their homes, 19% of households struggling with bills and 40,000 of them having their power cut off due to unpaid bills, according to Consumer NZ.
Since April the situation has further deteriorated: Transpower, the equivalent of our National Grid, warned that the nation was at high risk of blackouts.
New Zealand’s shift to renewables meant it no longer had the generating power to keep the lights on during the cold spells that mark the Antipodean winter, said Transpower, as it begged consumers to cut their electricity consumption.

Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
The entire labour front bench should live out the net zero fantasy. Camping in winter in the Highlands without access to fossil fuels or clothing or shelter made with conventional energy, IE coal, oil, gas and nuclear. Their tragic early deaths would be their family’s loss but the country’s gain. I suppose the danger of this suggestion is that their deaths would be in any event blamed on climate change, IE winter!
And before they corbled they could claim a commitment to the depopulation agenda and show how they were leading from the front.
I think yoiu have misunderstood the way Net Zero works. Bear in m=ind that some people are more equal than othersa and you will soon appreciate wghy the political elite can never be inconvenienced in the way you suggest.
Not for them shivering homes or loss of ICE vehicles – those inconveniences are for the small people, like the readers of this column.
With its mountainous terrain and proximity to the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, you’d think New Zealand would be in a strong position to supply itself with geothermal and hydroelectric power. If they’re facing blackouts due to the loss of fossil fuels, then what hope is there of the UK avoiding them if we follow the same anti-hydrocarbon policies?
On an unrelated point has a women ever lived who had a higher percentage of horse DNA than our Jacinda? I’ve seen better looking animals win the 3:15 at Newmarket.
You will find few neighsayers here, just glad that we are not saddled with her.
An arrogant, over promoted female of the Didn’t Earn It (DEI) tribe.
Promoted because she has certain sexual organs. The world we are living in demonstrates what happens when you let women have the vote and give them important jobs
Well exactly. I mean, Johnson, Sunak, Hancockwomble, van Tam, Whitty, Vallance, Rutte, de Jonge, Turdeau, Micron, Netanyahu, Biden, Trump….erm, who else did or is still doing a sterling job of shafting the public…?
Fauci, Tedros, the men ( who presumably identify as women by your logic ) at the helm of the U.S HHS, UN, WEF, Pfizer, Moderna….
Seems to me the penis-owners have form and know how to cock it up, big time. But according to the resident Misogynist Society, everything’s always women’s fault, until it provably isn’t.

Carry on with your delusion though. We can all use a laugh now and again.
Also a reminder of what the far left are capable of. I always knew they were authoritarian but in 2020 we had a taste for real.
Madam Ardern is some sort of advisor to Chuckles don’t you know?
Not because she is a woman though, but because she is STUPID. But here in the UK our own political class consisting of mostly men are all as THICK AS S..T as well as they waved the treacherous NET ZERO through Parliament with no debate and no vote. They had no debate about cost because if they did the public would then realise the astronomical costs involved in the eco socialist agenda that seeks to impoverish them for political purposes. Then ofcourse we have an even dumber public who think all of this is about the b…dy climate.
I would take Trump out of that list. To me he gets a pass because he withdrew from the Paris Accord. He is the only one not playing the pretend to save the planet game.
Mogwai that was for you.
Mogwai that was for you.
Yes well let’s sub out Trump ( I was thinking more of the scamdemic years ) for Dan Andrews, Bill Gates, Prof Ferguson, to name just a few, because the possibilities are nigh on endless when you stop and think about it.
Always the same names that can’t stop griping about women and are obviously triggered by certain articles, have you noticed? But what can you do with people that so evidently have such an inferiority complex and ingrained inadequacy issues?? Sucks to be them I guess.
Only an abject thicko and pathological woman-hater would ignore the obvious and instead tar an entire sex with the same brush because they’re most likely a serial killer/incel ( or both! ) in real life, LOL..A whole manosphere of them on here though, evidently.
I never gripe about women, as you probably know. I do however gripe about women being put in positions simply because they are women so employers can tick some wokery boxes. Just as we see the diversity politics seeking targets for people who are not white being employed simply because they are not white. It should always be the best person for the job. If you choose the best qualified for the job racism or sexism can never come into it.
Yes 100%. This DEI nonsense shouldn’t even be a thing. It should always be based on merit and that alone, across all contexts. I just find it hilarious that people such as the resident misogynists leave one-off goady posts and then leg it back to ”Incel HQ”, never actually returning to the thread to engage in intelligent debate ( god forbid! ) and provide some sort of rationale or evidence to support their stance. Speaks volumes about such an individual, don’t you think? They automatically become nothing more than a pain in the arse troll and not worth the bother.
As hux said recently, some people on here are best ignored.
Well, if all the misogynist tribe amounts to is a load of little green/red numbers by way of response, because actual conversation obviously scares the pants off them ( they’d have to stand by their opinions then and explain themselves, which must be truly terrifying when you’re a coward and know you’re blatantly in the wrong ) then I think ignoring the perma-trolls and their snidey posts is the wisest thing to do.
Having said that, I’m not shy about calling them out on their BS now and again, but most the time I can’t be arsed because it got old quite some time ago, to tell you the truth.
Anyway, thank you for being one of the few men on here ( and I can literally count them on one hand, disappointingly ) who displays common sense and fairness, and is all about pulling up people based on their behaviour, actions and traits, independent of gender. For me it’s all about the individual because globalists and bent politicians obviously come in both sexes. Anybody who thinks otherwise needs therapy.
The little red thumbs downs that you get are mostly from people who are not motivated sufficiently enough to want to spend a fiver in order to pass comment. I see on almost every comment I make about climate and energy the lone red thumbs down everyday. Don’t get me wrong, I do not expect everyone to agree with me, but it would be better if these people (or actually probably the same person each time) had an alternative point of view to put. ——-I expect that person to red thumbs down this comment as well. —–A bit tedious don’t you think?
Once they introduce that energy policy watch their ratings tumble.
“ratings tumble.”
Too damned late then because the chunts will be in power.
Not so sure as George Galloway has many candidates standing and he only has to come up with a better energy policy (not difficult) to take some of those Labour votes.
I think of it as a pincer movement with GG on the left and Nigel on the right with a shared dislike of the EU.
Oh, my word, what a thought: in a fit of collective madness the electorate turn completely against the established parties and we end up with a Parliament with Galloway and Farage at the helm… now, that would be worth the price of the popcorn!
Already electric car sales are falling. People are learning heat pumps are expensive and not very good. They see their electric bills scooting up all the time despite being told the wind is cheap. They can see they are being priced out of getting on a plane for a well-deserved holiday. They like beef and don’t want to eat locusts. They are beginning to see all these “hottest ever month” claims are total crap to scare us into eating the locusts and pretty soon during this next labour government the smart meters will be doing what is called “dynamic pricing” where they will be charged based on demand, which has always been the idea behind the smart meter, because as we use more and more wind the grid becomes less and less able to provide base load. ———-It is an eco socialist stich up by the political class but it is Beadie eyes Starmer who is going to be at the helm and going to have to face the backlash when electricity goes of during Strictly Come Dancing.
Labour are going to announce their energy policy today. It is thought they will ban new licences for North Sea oil and gas.
We have a steadily rising tax on energy use called the Standing Charge plus 5% VAT, currently £13 per week before you flick a switch, as well as future price rises due to lack of supply.
We need Reform UK to highlight this to the ordinary voter because none of the other Parties will.
Energy Policy by the entire Political class is based on what the UN and WEF want. They want Sustainable Development, and that involves the wealthy western countries getting rid of affordable reliable energy (coal gas) and replacing it with unaffordable unreliable energy all with the feeble excuse of saving the planet.
The reason Trump is so vilified and why the Progressive Left want him buried 6 feet under is because he refuses to play the pretend to save the planet game which has absolutely nothing to do with the planet.
The election will be a hung Parliament but let us assume it will not be and Labour win. Reform will make massive inroads, perhaps not in seats but certainly in support. Within the first two years the country shuts down in a bad winter. Who gets the blame?
Within the 5 years, most people are sick of higher and higher bills and the lights going off due to the wrong wind. Who gets the blame?
There are, on average, 110 days, let’s call it three months, a year when the sun / wind are not suitable for producing solar or wind power. Labour and Tories closed all the alternatives. There are two coal fired generators left and they have been mothballed. One of our few nuclear stations is due to close. Who gets the blame?
By putting your cross against Reform you change the future. You may not change the today or the tomorrow but, in five years time at most (look at France, Italy, Belgium, Holland its farmers), you can change the world.
I admire your optimism but I think we will be totally f#c#d if we have a five years of free range Labour.
Speaking of free range, the Chickens will be prohibited.
Coming soon in my opinion. Food shortages are marvellous for population control.
I totally agree Hux, and that is the point: 13 years of Labour, 14 of Tories, 5 of Labour. Where did it get us and who is viable? That is why a vote for Reform now is important.
That equates to 33 years of Civil Service rule.
32 actually. But whatever, the Civil Service have been running the show ever since the end of WW2.
OK – throughout this nut zero bollocks the americans are still drilling for new oil fields in Alaska around the arctic circle. This I know to be a fact as my friend is working up there checking the existing pipelines.
He said to me that pretty soon America will be swimming in oil and no doubt exporting it to us as inflated prices.
Thankfully I live in a warm climate so I don’t have to worry about heating bills. I have great empathy with the poor souls who do though.
I see that our ‘acceleration to clean power’ is delivering a magnificent 13.8% of our electricity requirement this morning… what could possibly go wrong?
When a politicians can make a statement like “The world has moved on from fossil fuels” it shows how totally absurd they are. Fossil fuels provide 85% of the world’s energy and that is not going to change hardly at all for decades to come or unless some new miracle technology and source of energy is discovered.
What that stupid woman Ardern and all those who agree with her really mean is that The wealthy western world have decided to move on from fossil fuels for political purposes, pertaining to the UN and its Sustainable Development agenda. Then they will tell you this is all because we need to switch to the “energies of the future”. When what they are really doing is deliberately lowering the living standards of their own citizens because the UN and WEF say our lifestyles are “unsustainable”. ———-Every politician in the UK who allowed NET ZERO to pass without a debate or vote is a TRAITOR to this country, and that is about 99% of them.