‘Insane’ to ‘buy Putin’s dirty oil’ while North Sea drilling blocked
LABOUR has been blasted for blocking exploration of British North Sea oil and gas fields but watering down plans for a ban on diesel and jet fuel made from Russian oil in third countries.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch yesterday accused Sir Keir Starmer of “choosing to buy dirty Russian oil” and warned the “money will be used to fund the killing of Ukrainian soldiers”.
She said it was “insane” that Britain would be “importing from Russia instead of drilling in the North Sea”.
Sir Keir insisted the government was not “lifting existing sanctions in any way” and said new sanctions were being “phased in” onVladimir Putin’s regime.
Dame Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP who chairs the foreign affairs select committee, warned Ukraine had looked at the UK as “one of their most important allies” and “people feel very let down”.
Ashamed
David Whitehouse, of Offshore Energies UK, warned: “The decision to relax sanctions to allow the import of jet fuel and diesel from third countries refining Russian crude is evidence that decades of poor policy decisions have undermined our energy security and industrial resilience.
“The government must support our own producers, industries and workers.”
Trade minister Sir Chris Bryant later apologised to MPs for the government’s “clumsy” handling of the issue. He said he wanted the licence allowing the imports to be as “temporary as possible”.
Sir Chris said he thought the government had “ended up giving the wrong impression of what we’re trying to do” when it is trying to strengthen the sanctions regime.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs
Badenoch said: “More people are buying Russian oil because British oil isn’t being drilled.
“He’s sanctioning British oil but not Russian oil, and he should be ashamed. I cannot believe this Prime Minister, even when he has nothing to lose, continues to defend banning new British oil and gas licences.” Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said: “Red Ed Miliband and Labour are choosing Putin over British North Sea oil and gas. It’s an idiotic betrayal that destroys jobs, damages economic growth and pushes up our energy bills even higher. “Helping Russia like this is shameful.” Alan Mendoza, of the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said: “The fact Britain is now quietly loosening restrictions on fuel products linked to Russian oil should concern anyone serious about national resilience and energy security.
“Ministers spent years promising energy security and sanctions pressure on Moscow. Yet at the first major global supply shock, they are already rowing back through obscure technical notices rather than explaining the decision openly to the public.”