Top green Tory quits over net zero row

Chris Skidmore, former energy minister, resigns over oil deal triggering by-election

A FORMER energy minister has quit over Rishi Sunak’s plans to boost oil and gas fields in the North Sea ahead of a major Commons battle next week.

Chris Skidmore announced he was resigning the Tory whip and stepping down as an MP over the legislation which will allow new oil and gas licences. It means the Prime Minister faces yet another difficult by-election. Mr Skidmore’s majority in his Kingswood seat is 11,220 and looks vulnerable in the wake of recent victories by Labour.

In a scathing attack on the Government’s green policies, the MP for the Gloucestershire seat said the “future will judge harshly” anyone who backs the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill due before the Commons on Monday.

The MP said he had to resign because, as a former energy minister, he had signed the UK’s pledge to be net zero by 2050 into law. He also led a government review on how Britain could meet the pledge. He said he could not vote for legislation that “clearly promotes the production of new oil and gas” and would show the UK is “rowing ever further back from its climate commitments”.

“To fail to act, rather than merely speak out, is to tolerate a status quo that cannot be sustained,” he said in his resignation statement.

The Government’s net zero pledges have been controversial amongst backbenchers and Mr Sunak has previously faced a major rebellion by MPs who opposed quotas on the sales of electric cars. The announcement may also thwart the Prime Minister’s attempt to regain the political initiative at the start of what will be a general election year.

Last year the Conservatives lost a string of by-elections, giving a major boost to Sir Keir Starmer’s chances of entering No10 later in the year. The Tories are far behind in the polls, and yesterday Mr Sunak was booed on a visit to Stockport.

He will also soon have to defend a byelection in Wellingborough after voters ousted scandal-hit Peter Bone.

Mr Skidmore’s majority is far less than some of those overturned by Labour and the Liberal Democrats last year. However, the Kingswood seat is being abolished at the next election, meaning whoever wins will only hold it for a matter of months.

It is understood that Mr Skidmore applied to chair the Climate Change Committee, which advises the Government on green policy, but 18 months later no appointment has been made.

A government source said he had turned down meetings with Claire

Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, about the role. “It is disappointing that Chris has taken this approach,” the source said. “Not making use of the oil and gas in our own North Sea means importing higher-carbon liquefied natural gas which means more global emissions.

“For someone so passionate about the environment that seems like an incoherent position.”

Mr Skidmore said he would resign the Tory whip to make him an independent and quit as an MP “as soon as possible”. Parliament returns from its Christmas recess on Monday. Colleagues have suggested that he may have found a job linked to energy in the private sector. In his statement, he said he was going in advance of the introduction on Monday of the Offshore

‘To fail to act, rather than merely speak out, is to tolerate a status quo that cannot be sustained’

Petroleum Licensing Bill, which he said would “allow more frequent new oil and gas licences and the increased production of new fossil fuels in the North Sea”.

He added: “The Bill that will be debated next week achieves nothing apart from to send a global signal that the UK is rowing ever further back from its climate commitments.

“We cannot expect other countries to phase out their fossil fuels when at the same time we continue to issue new licences or to open new oil fields.

“It is a tragedy that the UK has been allowed to lose its climate leadership, at a time when our businesses, industries, universities and civil society organisations are providing first class leadership and expertise to so many across the world, inspiring change for the better.”

The Bill would mandate that licences for oil and gas projects in the North Sea are awarded annually.

Mr Skidmore said: “I cannot vote for the Bill next week. The future will judge harshly those that do... I can also no longer condone nor continue to support a government that is committed to a course of action that I know is wrong and will cause future harm.

“To fail to act, rather than merely speak out, is to tolerate a status quo that cannot be sustained. I am therefore resigning my party whip and instead intend to be free from any party-political allegiance.”

Last night, Pat McFadden, Labour’s campaign coordinator said: “Rishi Sunak is too weak to lead his party let alone run the country.

“Even Tory MPs think the Tories have failed. There is no point in five more months of this government let alone five more years.

“After 14 years of Tory failure it is time for a change and the general election can’t come soon enough.”