Senior Labour figures have threatened to fight back should Prime Minister Keir Starmer try to give the go-ahead to a giant new oilfield off Shetland later this year.
MPs and ministers have told the Guardian they are prepared to oppose the UK prime minister should he try and give final consent to the Rosebank development, which is Britain’s biggest untapped oilfield. Many in the party see the battle over Rosebank as the next front in the struggle between its environmental wing and those around Rachel Reeves who want to push for economic growth above all else. The chancellor signalled her support for a third runway at Heathrow this week as part of the government’s latest push to stimulate the economy.
One ally of the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, who is leading the government’s climate agenda, said the former Labour leader would have a “punchy” response for any attempt to give consent to Rosebank. The ally said: “Ed will come to that fight armed with a lot of evidence about what Rosebank will do to our carbon emissions.”
A Labour backbencher said: “[A decision around Rosebank] will be a moment to speak out. There are a lot of us, on every wing of the party, who would go absolutely nuts if that happened.”
Read also: Trump orders USDA to take down websites referencing climate crisis
Another Labour MP said: “Not many in the party are going to man the barricades over Heathrow, but Rosebank is a very different matter altogether. There would be massive resistance if they try and give consent for that.”
The Rosebank development lost a significant court case this week when a judge in Scotland ruled the decision by the previous government to give it the green light had been unlawful. The judge ruled that ministers should not have given it consent without knowing how much carbon dioxide would be generated by burning the oil the field will produce over its lifetime.
Equinor, the Norwegian energy company that is leading the Rosebank project, is expected to carry out that more detailed assessment and come back with a renewed consent application later this year. An Equinor spokesperson said after the ruling it would continue to work with the government on securing consent, adding: “Rosebank is critical for the UK’s economic growth.”
But while the decision is technically up to the independent North Sea Transition Authority, government officials say it is likely to be so sensitive that the prime minister himself will have to weigh in.
Labour came into government last year promising not to issue any new licences for oil and gas fields in the North Sea. The Rosebank project, however, already has its licence and can continue developing the field until it gets environmental consent to start pumping oil out of the ground.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
