KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON
THE government continues its purposeful retreat from the election campaign promise of banning any new North Sea oil and gas licences. Naïve “green” supporters initially believed Labour really meant exactly that, to the extent that Just Stop Oil declared victory and disbanded.
However, as pointed out in Eye 1628, the precise weasel-wording of the policy only ruled out exploration licences, leaving permits for new production moot. Energy secretary Ed Miliband has been vocal in his opposition to the latter, calling it “climate vandalism”, but a motley band of Scottish politicians, trade unions, Guardian hack Nils Pratley and prominent eco-entrepreneurs Greg Jackson (Octopus Energy) and Dale Vince (Ecotricity) are now in favour of boosting production.