Reform UK has pledged to extract “every last barrel, every last drop” of British oil and gas. Richard Tice, the party’s energy spokesman, backed both North Sea drilling and fracking, saying the UK could follow America’s lead and “transform” its economy through shale gas. Mr Tice said that war in Iran had demonstrated the importance of energy security, insisting we should exploit our domestic “energy treasure”. Backing North Sea exploration would also send a message to investors that the UK fields were open for business, he said.
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He said that the Labour Government must approve “all of the existing drilling consents” for the North Sea – including both the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields, where development has been heavily opposed by environmentalists. Mr Tice asked: “With everything that’s going on in the world at the moment, has there ever been a more important time to understand the importance of having our own secure supply of energy?” As he spoke, the lights at the Aberdeen press conference went out – with the Reform MP explaining the “stunt” had been “to make a point” about energy supply, claiming that “we nearly had blackouts in the United Kingdom” a year ago. He said: “To think that we are on an island of energy treasure of oil and gas and yet we could run out of electricity.”Mr Tice said that on top of offshore drilling the country should consider its onshore resources of shale gas. He pointed out that in his Lincolnshire consituency alone there was “potentially a decade’s worth, give or take, of UK gas demand”. “There are a variety of techniques for extracting it. We should be extracting everything we possibly can, safely of course,” he said. Mr Tice added that shale gas was “literally what transformed the US economy some 20 years ago from being an energy importer, to using their own domestic energy, their own domestic gas and then becoming an energy exporter”. LATEST DEVELOPMENTSReform UK looks to bat off rivals ahead of crunch vote after councillor jailedBillionaire moves back to UK to donate millions to Reform’s ‘war chest’ after blasting PMNigel Farage outlines first thing PM must do after Donald Trump compared PM to Neville ChamberlainMr Tice also said the UK “could have the same”. He added: “We can have cheap energy, cheap gas, cheap electricity once again. That’s what we need to do. “If we use our own gas, then, we can have cheap domestically priced gas and that will bring our bills down, that will bring the cost of living down.” Fracking is currently suspended under a moratorium, although the Government intends to make the ban permanent. Mr Tice’s comments came as he announced Reform UK’s “critical four-point plan” for the UK’s energy sector. As part of this, Nigel Farage’s party wants to see industry regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority, change its name back to the Oil and Gas Authority – with Mr Tice adding that the body should be tasked with working towards “maximum economic recovery” of the fuels. Speaking at a press conference in Aberdeen, he said: “We have to give a clear message to the oil and gas industry that we are deadly serious, we want those companies, be they domestic or international, to get ready to invest back here in the UK. “That’s why we need to rename the North Sea Transition Authority – we need to take it back to being the Oil and Gas Authority. And, critically, we need to change its statutory mandate, that should be maximum economic recovery. “As far as I’m concerned, frankly, every last barrel, every last drop. Because it is our energy treasure, it creates jobs here, it creates wealth here and prosperity and give us low competitive energy prices, so we have to do this.” He also demanded the UK Government abolish the Energy Profits Levy on oil and gas – known as the windfall tax – which was introduced by the Tories but has continued under the Labour Government at Westminster. Abolishing the levy would help “incentivise” the oil and gas sector, Mr Tice said, adding that 49 new wells had been drilled in Norwegian waters last year, compared to none in the UK – a situation he insisted was “frankly a humiliation”. However, Laura Anderson, senior associate at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, insisted the best way to avoid the type of price shocks caused by the Middle East conflict was to move to renewables. She argued the North Sea was a “shrinking resource” and said: “True energy security today means reducing exposure to volatile global fossil fuel markets, not deepening it. “The price shocks of recent years have shown how reliant the UK is on international gas markets. “Expanding domestic renewables, by contrast, offers a way to generate stable, homegrown energy that isn’t subject to those same external pressures.”
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