Starmer says he doesn’t hold power to approve North Sea projects

Sir Keir Starmer has said he doesn’t hold legal powers to approve fresh exploration of North Sea oil and gas fields, with the decision falling in the hands of net zero secretary Ed Miliband.

Starmer said current legislation determined that a quasi-judicial decision relating to cases for more gas extraction at Shell’s Jackdaw site and Equinor’s Rosebank oil field was left to Miliband.

The Prime Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to expanding renewable energy. He said the introduction of fresh legislation would “slow the process down” and accused the leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, of failing to know about the law before raising questions in Parliament. 

“Its absolutely clear that the quasi judicial [process] lies with secretary of state,” Starmer said. 

“In the last four weeks, because we are on a fossil fuel rollercoaster, everyone is being held to ransom. 

He added: “The most important thing to get energy security is to make sure we de-escalate the war.”

Starmer backed by Davey

Scottish courts ruled government approvals for more extraction at each field as unlawful on environmental grounds.

The power now falls on the energy secretary to make a decision while considering economic and environmental reasons for projects.

Badenoch accused Starmer of “hiding behind legal process every time” though Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, who served as the energy secretary in the coalition government, said he agreed with the Prime Minister. 

The Tory leader heckled Davey to “stop sucking up”. She also shouted out “you can change the law” and repeated the word “weak” several times. 

Starmer is facing growing pressure to remove restrictions on North Sea oil and gas projects from officials working across clean energy.

Jurgen Maier, who oversees Great British Energy, the publicly owned investment company, said in a post on LinkedIn that more drilling in the region would support a “managed energy transition”, slow job losses and improve tax receipts.

However, he said that energy costs would not be brought down and later emphasised he was “fully supportive” of the government’s position to use existing fields for further exploration.

Prime Minister’s Questions also came just a day after the lobby group Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) called on the government to “urgently” allow new drilling projects to take place. 

Its annual report said much as half of the UK’s liquified natural gas (LNG) will come from international suppliers by 2035. 

David Whitehouse, chief executive of OEUK, said: “As demand rises and electricity use accelerates, weakening domestic supply would only increase our reliance on imported LNG, leaving consumers more exposed to global volatility and higher emissions.”

Political donations from Brits overseas to be capped at £100,000 a year

The final Prime Ministers’ Questions before a two-week Easter break was also mired by controversy as Reform UK MPs stormed out of the chamber on their apparent dissatisfaction with Starmer’s answers. 

Ahead of a statement by communities secretary Steve Reed on Wednesday, Starmer confirmed that political donations made through cryptocurrencies 

The government also confirmed that it would accept a recommendation in the review for political funding from British citizens living abroad to be capped at £100,000 a year. 

This change may jar with Reform UK’s plans to secure more cash ahead of national elections, with major crypto investor Christopher Harborne, who has given the party more than £12m in the last year, being based in Thailand. 

Other recommendations include preventing donations from shell companies by ensuring funding is from post-tax profits rather than revenue and requiring foreign consultant lobbyists to join the official register they are currently exempt from. 

 There will also be more stringent checks on the source of funds from political donors.