King’s Speech: Ministers ban North Sea oil and gas exploration Energy The government will make it illegal to grant new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, the King said at the state opening of Parliament, in a sign ministers are refusing to buckle in the face of a barrage of criticism that the policy is depriving the UK of billions of pounds in tax [...]
Starmer serves up his best and empty platitudes Opinion If today’s relaunch-not-relaunch buys Keir Starmer any additional time in Downing Street, it will only be due to the extraordinary fecklessness of his would-be challengers, none of whom has anything significant to say about change either, says Eliot Wilson Is Sir Keir Starmer all right? There is a reason I ask. At last week’s local [...]
Backbencher threatens rebellion as Starmer vows to stay put Politics A Labour backbencher has issued the Prime Minister with an ultimatum as Sir Keir Starmer battles to stay in Number 10 after taking a battering at the local elections. Catherine West, a former junior minister and MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet, said she will trigger a leadership bid on Monday if cabinet ministers fail [...]
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is right – our energy policy is ‘all over the place’ May 6, 2026 Punchy interventions from chemicals tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe are not rare; most announcements from his company, Ineos, are enriched with a missive from the billionaire on where exactly the UK is going wrong. But these are no mere PR ploys. The stakes are high and he knows what he’s talking about. Yesterday’s confirmation of his [...]
BP eyes North Sea exit as tax load bites May 2, 2026 BP is reportedly eyeing a potential exit from the North Sea as the tax load on energy companies seems unlikely to be eased with the Iran war. The UK oil giant is considering either ceasing or partially winding down operations in the North Sea, according to Bloomberg, as part of an effort to strip assets [...]
After a ‘stunning’ update, what does the future hold for long-suffering BP? April 30, 2026 BP wowed shareholders with its first quarter results – doubling profit and bolstering its balance sheet. But with an activist breathing down its neck, its new boss Meg O’Neill isn’t out of the woods yet, writes Ali Lyon As she sat down to pen her first email to BP’s 100,000 staff, Meg O’Neill opted against [...]
‘Fossil fuel rollercoaster’: Government plans energy price shake-up as Miliband ‘doubles down’ on renewables April 21, 2026 UK households could see their electricity bills fall after the government unveiled measures to end the pricing system’s relationship with volatile gas prices and fossil fuels. Energy secretary Ed Miliband is set to overhaul the system in a major intervention to sever the link between the prices of electricity to gas, which has long been [...]
Energy crisis: Britain could be sitting on a second North Sea April 21, 2026 Onshore shale gas could provide cheap, abundant energy not dependent on Russian oligarchs or subject to the whims and fancies of Donald Trump. But as with so many areas, it’s being held back by of eco-zealotry, Nimbyism and an inability to simply get things done, says Emma Revell That Britain needs to solve its energy [...]
Britain’s energy future is bright – but we still need Ed Drilliband April 15, 2026 Amid soaring oil prices and growing fears of jet fuel shortages, it feels as though Britain is trapped in an energy permacrisis of its own making. So here’s a note of optimism to counter the doom and gloom: Britain has a bright energy future ahead of it. A few examples: Nuclear power output is going [...]
CBI chief calls on Miliband to approve Jackdaw and Rosebank oil fields April 15, 2026 The boss of Britain’s largest industry body has called on the government to green-light extraction from two major North Sea oil fields and slash the windfall tax on domestic oil production in a bid to revitalise the country’s ailing oil and gas industry. CBI chief Rain Newton Smith said the North Sea was a “critical [...]