Alok Sharma has said he will not support Rishi Sunak’s “smoke and mirrors” oil and gas bill.
The former cabinet member and Cop26 president said the legislation is a “total distraction, which frankly changes nothing”.
And he accused the prime minister of “chopping and changing” climate policies, reinforcing “the unfortunate perception about the UK rolling back from climate action”.
On Monday, Mr Sunak’s government will try to pass legislation requiring the North Sea regulator to invite applications for new oil and gas licences on an annual basis instead of the five-year average currently in place.
Sharma said he will not support the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill when MPs vote on it later
Critics have accused the government of backing new production as a way to create a dividing line with Labour ahead of this year’s general election.
Just 1 per cent of the oil from new licences granted in the North Sea would be used in the UK in 2030, according to analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
The ECIU said the bill will therefore have little impact on Britain’s energy security and do nothing to bring down household bills – which have soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Former energy secretary Mr Sharma told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I will not be voting for this bill.
“As it is currently drafted, this bill is a total distraction… it is a smoke and mirrors bill which, frankly, changes nothing.”
The MP said the North Sea Transition Authority can already grant licences when it deems necessary and “that will not change”.
He added: “What this bill does do is reinforce that unfortunate perception about the UK rolling back from climate action. We saw this last autumn with the chopping and changing of some policies and actually not being serious about meeting our international commitments.
“Just a few weeks ago at COP 28, the 28th UN climate conference, the UK government signed up to transition away from fossil fuels.
“This bill is about doubling down on granting more oil and gas production licences. It’s actually the opposite of what we agreed to do… so I won’t be supporting it.”
Meanwhile former Tory environment secretary Zac Goldsmith, who quit over Mr Sunak’s “apathy” toward climate change, urged Conservative MPs to reject the bill.
“Conservatives are facing almost certain defeat at the election and now is not the time for colleagues to be slavishly obedient to a leadership that will not be there in a matter of months,” he said.
Lord Goldsmith urged MPs to be on “the right side of history” and reject the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill.
The Conservative Environment Network, a group representing around 150 Tories, said the benefits of the new bill “should not be overstated”. Director Sam Hall said oil and gas will still be needed during the transition to net zero, “albeit in shrinking amounts”.
He said priority for energy security and tackling climate change should be to “rapidly reduce our demand for oil and gas” by building more renewables, improving energy efficiency and electrifying more of the economy.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the offshore oil and gas bill was a “waste of time” designed to create a dividing line with his party.
“It isn’t going to make any difference at all – zero impact – on energy bills,” Sir Keir told reporters as he pointed to comments from former ministers.
Sir Keir said: “What you’ve got is a government that’s wasting its time trying to pass legislation to create a dividing line with the Labour party rather than to solve the problem.”
The latest row came just days after the government’s former net zero tsar Chris Skidmore quit as an MP in opposition to the bill.
In a scathing exit statement he said he could no longer continue as a Tory or “condone” the government because the PM’s environmental stance is “wrong and will cause future harm”.
In a statement posted on Twitter/X, Mr Skidmore said: “As the former energy minister who signed the UK’s net zero commitment by 2050 into law, I cannot vote for a bill that clearly promotes the production of new oil and gas.
“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.”
Downing Street declined to say whether the aim of the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill is to increase the number of licences granted.
“I’m not going to speculate on whether more licences will be granted, that’s a decision partly for the companies themselves,” Mr Sunak’s spokesman told journalists.
Challenged over the fact the oil will be sold abroad rather than reserved for the domestic market, the official argued is is “preferable to have an international market which has more oil and gas from the UK and other countries which are stable, which are not authoritarian regimes”.
