Just four days after being appointed energy secretary in July 2024, Britain’s energy secretary signalled he’d block new North Sea oil and gas production, including the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields. At the time, I said that would cost the nation a fortune and leave us at the mercy of petrostates and dictators. And I was right. The North Sea has powered Britain for decades, supporting jobs, tax revenues and energy security. Walking away from it was a hugely risky call, but Miliband did it anyway.
This wasn’t just about fighting climate change. It was also about building his political brand. Miliband wanted to display his left-wing credentials. But no other country blocks development of its own oil and gas resources. Even Denmark and Norway believe in ‘drill, baby drill’, although they prefer to use other words.
Miliband believes he led Labour to defeat in 2015 because he wasn’t radical enough. This was his chance to prove otherwise. Now he’s come unstuck, as politicians always do when their fancy theories collide with economic reality.
There’s a reason Tony Blair won three elections. Labour governments are just about affordable when the economy is strong and there’s money to throw around. When money is tight, they’re a liability. That partly explains why Sir Keir Starmer has been forced into a string of U-turns. His policies weren’t workable or affordable. Rachel Reeves’s tax-and-spend splurge is the perfect example. She’s killed growth stone dead and made us all poorer.
Miliband held out longer than most, sticking to his North Sea ban even as energy prices surged and shortages loomed due to the Iran war. Even Rachel Reeves couldn’t hide her irritation. Today, he’s finally been forced to cave in and make a humiliating U-turn on the Jackdaw field. He should go further.
Miliband repeatedly argued that more drilling won’t cut prices. That’s technically correct, since oil and gas are globally priced. But he completely ignored the wider benefits. Domestic energy production supports jobs, boosts tax revenues, improves the balance of payments, strengthens the pound and enhances energy security by cutting our reliance on imports.
Homegrown production even cuts our carbon emissions, compared with importing liquefied natural gas from far afield. Miliband still wouldn’t see sense. Until today.
Even with the shift to renewables, gas remains essential back-up for when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. North Sea reserves may be declining, but it was madness to shut them down before his green revolution is anywhere near complete.
Now reality has been forced upon him. It’s a massive climbdown, and a huge personal and political blow. Miliband is already catching flak from eco-activists. It’ll break his heart. But he’s learned a hard and necessary lesson. Political leaders have to deal with the world as it is. Reality bites.
Today’s retreat confirms this Labour government isn’t fit to govern. And it’s costing us a fortune.
