𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, has issued an eight-word warning in reaction to Kemi Badenoch’s latest pledge to abandon net zero and claims that the Tories would ‘maximise’ North Sea oil and gas extraction if elected. Badenoch said in a speech in Aberdeen last Tuesday that her party will remove all climate regulations hindering oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. She argued that net zero policies have driven up energy bills for families, and insisted the UK must fully exploit its North Sea resources pointing out that neighbouring countries like Norway continue to extract oil from the same seabed.

Nigel Farage has slammed Badenoch’s pledge by highlighting the Conservatives’ previous record while in power, including the 75% tax on North Sea profits and commitment to net zero, and warned: “Don’t believe a word they [the Tories] say about anything.”

He wrote on: “So Kemi Badenoch now supports North Sea Oil production. In government the Tories put a 75% tax on North Sea profits and committed net zero to law. Don’t believe a word they say about anything.”

Kemi Badenoch said on Tuesday: “We are in the absurd situation where our country is leaving vital resources untapped while neighbours such as Norway extract them from the same seabed.

“Britain has already decarbonised more than every other major economy since 1990, yet we face some of the highest energy prices in the developed world.

“This is not sustainable and it cannot continue. That is why I am calling time on this unilateral act of economic disarmament and Labour’s impossible ideology of net zero by 2050.

“So, a future Conservative government will scrap all mandates for the North Sea beyond maximising extraction. It is time that common sense, economic growth and our national interest came first, and only the Conservatives will deliver that. We are going to get all our oil and gas out of the North Sea.”

This represents a major shift in the Conservative Party’s stance on climate policy and a more radical departure from the party’s previous climate commitments earlier this year, she claimed that achieving net zero by 2050 within that timeframe was “impossible”, signalling a clear break from the position held by previous Tory governments.

The net zero goal established in law by Former Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019 requires the UK to reduce carbon emissions to the point where they are balanced by the amount removed from the atmosphere, in line with the international targets set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Currently, the Labour government is committed to banning new exploration licences in the North Sea. A Labour spokesperson fired back at Badenoch’s announcement and said: “We’ll take no lectures from Kemi Badenoch. Every family and business paid the price of the Conservatives’ failure to secure the UK’s energy.”

The spokesperson added: “We are committed to delivering the manifesto commitment to not issue new licences to explore new fields because they will not take a penny off bills, cannot make us energy secure, and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis.”

Limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is a central goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement, as endorsed by nearly 200 countries and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), surpassing this threshold would significantly increase the risks of extreme heat, sea level rise, food insecurity, biodiversity loss, and potentially irreversible climate tipping points. While some progress has been made globally, current policies put the world on course for around 2.5C to 2.9C of warming by 2100.