Labour confirms plans to block all new North Sea oil and gas projects

theguardian.com:

Labour has confirmed it will block all new domestic oil and gas developments if it wins power, proposing instead to invest heavily in renewable sources such as wind and also in nuclear power.

The shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said details would be announced soon.

“What we’ll be doing in the coming weeks is outlining how we want to invest in the green jobs of the future, to bring bills down, to create a more sustainable energy supply,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show.

“We’ll be outlining that in a significant mission in the coming weeks, and we’ll be announcing more details then.

“We know we’ve got to move to more renewable sources of energy. It’s important for our climate change commitments, but it’s also the way in which we can bring energy bills down for consumers. This isn’t about shutting down what’s going on now. We will manage those sustainably.”

The proposals, which the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, is expected to set out formally on a visit to Scotland next month, will involve not just a ban on new North Sea oil and gas licences, but a pledge that any borrowing for investment should be limited to green schemes.

A party source said: “We are against the granting of new licences for oil and gas in the North Sea. They will do nothing to cut bills as the Tories have acknowledged; they undermine our energy security and would drive a coach and horse through our climate targets.

“But Labour would continue to use existing oil and gas wells over the coming decades and manage them sustainably as we transform the UK into a clean energy superpower.”

This will not stop drilling on projects that have already been approved, with the exception of the Rosebank and Cambo schemes, which Labour has said