UK Offshore Energy Calls for Labour Party Meet

The UK offshore energy industry has repeated its call for the Labour party to meet and listen to the sector following Keir Starmer’s speech to the GMB union congress in Brighton, industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) said in a statement posted on its website.

“We want to meet with him because we now need Labour’s sentiment to match up with the substance of their plans,” OEUK Chief Executive David Whitehouse said in an organization statement.

“Today UK meets over half of its oil and gas needs with oil and gas imported from across the world. Without new projects and investment, this will increase to 80 percent in this decade,” he added.

“The 200,000 people working in this industry have heard Labour’s proposals and have questions about how they would work in reality. They want to know if Labour will allow the continued decline of domestic oil and gas production and the increase of imported oil and gas to meet the country’s needs. They want to know if when they say no new oil, they mean no new British oil,” Whitehouse continued.

“These are the questions we are very keen to discuss with Labour, and at the heart of our request is how we can work together to sustain the activity and jobs in the offshore energy industry,” the OEUK CEO went on to note.

In the statement, Whitehouse said the offshore energy sector is a modern diverse industry spread across the UK, “which has embraced and been at the forefront of change for decades”.

“We are not standing still,” he stated.

“Our industry includes those that are expanding into renewables, while the homegrown expertise of our people is driving ever cleaner energy production. We are committed to a sustainable future,” he added.

“As we build that future there is no simple choice between oil and gas on the one hand and renewables on the other. The reality is that to keep the lights on and grow our economy, we need both,” Whitehouse continued.

“By investing in homegrown production, we avoid costlier, less secure and higher carbon footprint imports while supporting the infrastructure we need to make cleaner, more affordable energy in the UK, for the UK,” Whitehouse highlighted.

Rigzone has contacted Starmer’s parliamentary office, constituency office, and party office for comment on OEUK’s statement. At the time of writing, Rigzone has not yet received a response from any of the offices.

Change Is Coming

During his speech at the GMB congress, which was posted on the Labour Party website, Starmer said “change is coming and yes, it can unsettle us”.

“But mark my words, on my watch, good jobs – good, union jobs – will be fundamental to that change,” he added in the speech.

“So as new nuclear, battery factories, and offshore wind repower Britain, Labour will build strong supply chains that create jobs, skills, and decent wages here in Britain. We will work with you and with industry to seize the opportunities of hydrogen, carbon capture, and storage,” he continued.

“Our Green Prosperity Plan, like President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, is our plan for growth, and because we are Labour it is a plan for working people, their jobs, and their prosperity,” he went on to state.

In the speech, Starmer said Labour will create a new company, GB Energy, and noted that “through that vehicle, we will take advantage of the opportunities that we have”.

“And because it’s right for jobs, because it’s right for growth, because it’s right for energy independence, then yes, it will be publicly owned,” he added.

“GB Energy will be good for Britain and good for business. It will have twin goals: leading the way in better jobs and lower bills,” he continued.

GMB’s General Secretary Gary Smith told the union’s annual conference that the UK energy sector needs “plans not bans”, GMB highlighted in a statement posted on its website.

“We want a Labour government and it is clear that under Keir Starmer, Labour is getting ready for power,” Smith said in a union statement.

“Energy is key. The energy we are going to need in the future, isn’t guaranteed. We still import too much from the rest of the world. We have to fix and secure our energy supply if we are to face down threats from authoritarian regimes in the world and find a workable way to achieve net-zero,” he added.

“But our future requires a mix of energy sources – new nuclear, renewables, hydrogen, and oil and gas,” Smith continued.

Westminster Voting Intention

The UK House of Commons, which is made up of a total of 650 seats, is currently run by the Conservative Party, which has 354 MPs and a working majority of 64, the UK parliament website outlines. Labour has 196 MPs and is the second biggest party, the site shows.

The latest YouGov Westminster voting intention figures, which were released on May 31, have Labour on 43 percent of the vote, the Conservatives on 25 percent of the vote, and the Liberal Democrats on 11 percent of the vote.

YouGov Westminster voting intention figures released on April 26 showed Labour on 43 percent of the vote, the Conservatives on 28 percent of the vote, and the Liberal Democrats on 10 percent of the vote.

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