This week, Rishi Sunak is receiving criticism in parliament for his proposal to expand oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. The Conservative Party is facing challenges on various issues as they prepare for an upcoming general election, which is anticipated to take place this year.
On Monday, members of Parliament will resume their sessions at Westminster after the holiday break. All political parties are preparing for what is expected to be a contentious election that could potentially result in the end of the Conservative’s 13 and a half year reign.
Sunak’s plans for a smooth beginning to 2024 were shattered on Friday with the resignation of Chris Skidmore, a former Conservative energy minister, as a Member of Parliament. Skidmore stepped down in opposition to the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which is scheduled for discussion in the House of Commons on Monday.
The proposed legislation will create a fresh framework for granting licenses for oil and gas ventures in the North Sea on an annual basis. This plan has sparked anger among environmentally conscious members of parliament from various political parties and has also caused concern globally.
Skidmore, who stated his inability to support a bill that “overtly supports the creation of additional oil and gas” and would demonstrate the UK’s regression from its environmental pledges, is anticipated to deliver his final address in the House of Commons during the discussion and will abstain from voting on the legislation.
Other Tories, including Alok Sharma, a former cabinet minister and chair of the Cop26 international climate summit, are expected to speak against the bill as a green backlash to the government’s stance on climate policy grows. Theresa May, a former prime minister, has also previously raised objections to the licensing plan.
Skidmore and Lord Goldsmith, both former Conservative ministers, have joined forces with MPs from various political backgrounds to address green policy matters. In a bipartisan letter to Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho, they have urged for the abandonment of the bill, indicating a growing cooperation among lawmakers on these issues.
The all-party parliamentary group for climate change recently sent a letter stating that while the UK experienced its second warmest year on record, the country also joined others in signing the UAE consensus at Cop28. This commitment includes transitioning away from fossil fuels. However, the current bill and the government’s plan to use up all remaining oil and gas reserves in the North Sea directly contradict this agreement.
This legislation not only fails to fulfill the commitments we made to our allies and partners at Cop28, but it also diminishes the UK’s credibility as a global leader in addressing climate change.
The most recent update from the IPCC emphasizes that granting licenses for new fossil fuel projects contradicts the guidance of top climate scientists worldwide.
Skidmore’s resignation from parliament puts the prime minister in a challenging position, as there may be three tough by-elections in the near future. In the 2019 general election, Skidmore won his Kingswood constituency, located near Bristol, with a large majority of 11,220 votes over the Labour candidate. However, it is now highly probable that Labour will win the seat in the upcoming by-election.
If defeated, Sunak could lose political momentum needed to make his party competitive before the expected general election in the fall. He also faces the possibility of losing the Blackpool South seat, with the current MP Scott Benton facing suspension from the Commons for a serious breach of standards. The Labour party is likely to easily win back the seat, which only has a majority of less than 4,000 votes.
A new byelection presents a new opportunity for Keir Starmer to secure a seat that was previously out of reach for his party. If Labour is able to secure a victory in Wellingborough, where Peter Bone had a majority of 18,540 in the last election, it will support Starmer’s claim that he is making progress in traditionally Conservative areas.
Bone faced a recall petition following his suspension from parliament due to allegations of bullying, harassment, and indecent exposure towards a staff member.
Prior to the upcoming byelections, Sunak will once again be involved in a debate surrounding immigration. Discussions between government officials and opposing factions of Conservative MPs regarding Sunak’s contentious Rwanda legislation, which aims to facilitate the deportation of asylum-seekers to the east African nation, will occur this week. Voting and potential changes to the bill will occur later this month.
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Some members of the Liberal Tory party, who belong to the “one nation” faction, are cautioning against making the bill more strict in order to please the right wing. This could lead to government officials resigning, as there are many moderate MPs in prominent positions. A Tory MP stated, “If you are concerned about the party’s state, losing more ministers is not an option. The government is currently composed of rational one nation centrists.”
The law aims to restrict the possibility of legal disputes regarding the transfer of asylum-seekers from Britain to Rwanda. During the initial vote on the measures, no Conservative MP opposed it. However, there is frustration among those on the political right as the law still permits individual appeals and does not explicitly supersede the European Convention on Human Rights.
There are those on the right who are currently feeling doubtful about having sufficient backing to overcome the government and bolster the bill. However, they are ready to resist any alterations that may be introduced in the House of Lords, where it is anticipated that the bill will be weakened. This indicates that there will be weeks of conflict over a subject that has been a persistent issue throughout Sunak’s time as prime minister.
Although the government is not at risk of losing the vote on oil and gas licensing on Monday, they anticipate facing challenges in future parliamentary stages as MPs draw attention to discrepancies in the government’s strategy. While they argue that granting more licenses will improve the UK’s energy stability, ministers have acknowledged that the majority of oil from the recently discovered Rosebank field in the North Sea will be exported globally rather than used domestically by UK citizens.
There are formidable adversaries within the organization. May has expressed, “While energy security is crucial for us, obtaining new oil and gas licenses only ensures it if all the energy is sold within the UK. In reality, it will be sold on the global market, raising some concerns.”
High-ranking members of the Conservative party anticipate challenges in the House of Lords. The Labour party has proposed a revision stating that the legislation is “completely at odds with the UK’s obligations regarding climate change on an international level and is a completely unwarranted law that will not benefit the country’s best interests.”
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has hit back at Skidmore over his decision. While praising his work for the government as climate change adviser, Hunt said: “I do profoundly disagree with the reasons that he gave for resigning.
According to the Climate Change Committee in our country, even after achieving net zero emissions in 2050, a substantial amount of our energy will still come from fossil fuels. They also state that domestically produced oil and gas is four times more environmentally friendly than imported sources.
Source: theguardian.com
