Why this may be wrong time for Labour to push North Sea oil industry off a cliff

It was a moment we all knew would come, probably sooner rather than later. But when it happened, it was with neither a bang nor a whimper. Just a ministerial statement on a quiet day. There will, Sarah Jones MP told the House of Commons, be no more licences for oil and gas in the North Sea.

In statement entitled “Building the North Sea’s Energy Future”, she explained that developments in the past decade had made little difference to production, and that new licences would not take a penny off bills. “So we will not award new licences, but we will continue working with the sector to manage existing fields for the entirety of their lifespan.”

We all know that the North Sea is declining and the necessity of moving away from fossil fuels for the sake of the planet must add up to a renewable future. But somehow it seemed a sad, almost disrespectful, way to signal the final chapter of such a significant story.

An oil rig is towed by tugboats off the coast of Hartlepool on its way to be decommissioned (Picture: Scott Heppell) | AFP via Getty Images

For half a century, the workers of the North Sea have powered our economy and our country. The minister entrusted with outlining its demise was just a toddler when the Forties pipeline was opened by Her Majesty the Queen to such fanfare in 1975.

The communities of the North and North East have known both the benefits of the oil boom and the strain of price crashes. Individuals and their families have often paid the ultimate price to keep our homes warm and our factories running.

As I sat in the chamber, I couldn’t help think of the 167 victims of the Piper Alpha disaster and others lost in accidents over the decades.

It was difficult to concentrate on the rosy renewable future being outlined – amidst government assurances of funding, new jobs and support for the just transition from carbon to green that is essential – without wondering whether, as I asked the minister, this is the right moment to push the industry off the cliff?

We face the biggest national security threat since the Second World War, and one which demands that we muster every resource at our disposal. Our renewables industries are developing, quickly, but not quickly enough to replace the fossil fuels altogether yet.

Platitudes were the order of the day when the minister responded to our questions on how we deal with that gap. For the foreseeable, we will still need oil and gas to produce chemicals, plastic and pharmaceuticals amongst other things. The carbon footprint of imported oil and gas supplies to see us through will be enormous.

At the same time, Chinese companies are eying the prospect of exploiting the change to help produce and potentially control our energy and undermine its security. But the die is cast.

The energy future is green and our coastline is gradually being populated with wind farms to replace the oil platforms which were once such sources of pride.

We need investment in jobs and the reassurance that Aberdeenshire will not become the next industrial desert to follow Clydeside and Lanarkshire – created by bad transition management.

We will have to work fast to secure that just transition which is key. Labour say they are on the case. I remain to be convinced.

Christine Jardine is Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West