Kemi Badenoch’s North Sea speech

Today [Tuesday 2^nd September 2025] Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Conservative Party, delivered a keynote speech at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Offshore Europe Conference speech in Aberdeen.  

The full text of her speech is as follows: 

“Just across the seabed, Norway has made one of its biggest oil discoveries in a decade.  

They are showing the world, that a European democracy can take its natural wealth, and turn it into national strength. 

Meanwhile, Britain is leaving our resources untouched. 

We have the same opportunity to invest in our own energy, to power our own homes, to protect our sovereignty.  

Yet instead, we are importing oil and gas from abroad while banned from extracting it at home. 

We are sabotaging ourselves. 

Last year, UK energy production fell to a historic low.  

More than 40% of our needs were met by imports. That is not security. It's certainly not strength. It is weakness by choice. 

And it does not have to be this way. Offshore Energies UK has found that up to 7.5 billion barrels could still be produced from our waters, 3.2 billion more than the government even admits. 

But here is the problem. Getting that oil and gas out of the ground requires business confidence. Confidence to invest, to build, to hire. And that confidence has been destroyed by this government. 

I want to be clear about what is at stake if we don't make the most of the North Sea. 

Jobs.

Almost 1,000 jobs are being lost every single month and will continue to be lost until 2030 without change. That is the same as losing a Grangemouth every fortnight. This isn't just a forecast, it's a warning.  We have to ask, who is looking after our industry here? 

Oil and gas still meets three-quarters of the UK's energy needs. 

Yet our oil fields are not being wound down over decades to come, they are at risk of vanishing in just a few years because of Labour's ideological approach.  

200,000 jobs across the sector are in danger. Families, communities, entire towns could be wiped out by political short-sightedness. 

But jobs are not the only thing at stake. Energy costs are too.  

The Energy Profits Levy the “windfall tax” is actually leading to LESS tax revenue for the treasury at a time when the Chancellor is trying to take every penny she can get her hands on, that only means one thing: more tax rises landing on ordinary families. 

When the Energy Profits Levy was introduced, oil prices were near record highs at the same time bills were rocketing.  

That moment has long gone. 

There is no windfall left, and yet Labour is still taxing. 

You may ask why should we believe you when Conservatives introduced this levy?  

The answer is that those of us who always opposed the levy are now in charge. And for those who didn't, when the facts change, they change their minds! 

Almost every other European country has dropped their levy, but Labour wants ours to run until 2030. If that happens, there won't be an industry left to tax.

For example: 

In May, the largest independent operator in the UK continental shelf, Harbour Energy, announced plans to cut its workforce by 25% with 250 roles here in Aberdeen being placed at risk. Harbour were clear their decision was a direct result of the Levy. 

Offshore Energies UK have shown the Levy has cost 10,000 jobs since its inception. In the same period the price of Brent Crude has nearly halved. 

This windfall tax is a policy that punishes success and accelerates decline.  

But what else? What else is at stake if we lose North Sea oil and gas?  

Russia's war in Ukraine has reminded us that energy security is national security.  

Last year, Europe was still paying €21.9 billion for Russian fossil fuels. Russian gas made up 18% of EU imports. The EU spent 4.5 billion euros on Russian gas imports in the first half of 2025, a billion more euros than they spent in same period last year, despite sanctions. This is madness. We need to wake up! 

More British oil and gas on the market would mean Europeans buying from Aberdeen instead of buying from Moscow. 

So, when we talk about the North Sea, about what is at stake, this is not some abstract policy debate. It is about our jobs, our energy bills, and the security of our country and our families.  

It is about whether we stand on our own two feet, or weaken ourselves by choice. 

So, what is the solution? 

I am proposing a new future for the North Sea, one that puts Britain back in control of our own energy destiny. 

The North Sea is not a wasteland, it's a cornerstone of Britain's future. 

That is why I am here. 

That is why Claire Coutinho is here. Claire is the one who pushed for continued oil and gas licensing, to maintain our energy security when Conservatives were in government.  

That is why Andrew Bowie, our Secretary of State for Scotland is here. Just in July Andrew wrote to the Prime Minister demanding he urgently convene a summit at Number 10 on the future of the North Sea. 

And that is why our Scottish leader Russell Findlay is here. Russell has been leading the opposition to the SNP's policy of a presumption against new oil and gas exploration. 

We are all here because Conservatives are committed to our industry in the North Sea. 

Under new leadership, it is only the Conservative Party that is truly, truly backing Britain's North Sea industry. We are not here just to point out problems. Conservatives are in the business of finding solutions! 

A future Conservative government will give the North Sea Authority one clear mission: maximise extraction.  

No more “managing decline”; no more treating the sector as a problem to be wound down. 

The Net Zero mandate of the North Sea Transition Authority requires operators to pass net zero tests before licences are granted, delaying or potentially blocking projects. 

This creates a regulatory chilling effect, with fewer firms willing to commit capital to UK waters. 

So we will scrap that Net Zero mandate. 

The mandate discourages investment in new oil and gas projects by adding time, costs and uncertainty to projects. This move will help domestic production and make the UK less reliant on expensive, higher-emission imports. 

And we will judge operators on one metric alone: how much oil and gas they produce.  

What else will we do? 

The North Sea Transition Authority will be changed to the North Sea Authority. Because the North Sea is about much more than just “transition.” It is a strategic, economic, and geopolitical asset. It underpins the UK's energy security, and Europe's too. 

And with the right leadership, it can help secure our future. 

Why is this the right way forward? 

Because the choice before us is simple. Growth or decline. 

The Office for National Statistics said that ‘output in other production industries declined by 18.2%, mostly because of a fall in mining and quarrying output as North Sea oil and gas continues its long-term decline'.  

The decline is feeding a higher deficit, lower growth, and fewer jobs everywhere.  

Every extra barrel we produce will underpin sterling and strengthen our balance of payments.  

But without stimulating investment now, the UK will be reliant on imports for more than 80% of oil and gas demand by 2030. That would leave us dangerously exposed to supply squeezes. 

And the irony is this, the Treasury itself is losing out. We have passed the point on the Laffer curve where higher taxes bring in more money. The EPL will actually cost the Exchequer £12 billionin lost revenue.  

That is money that should be paying for schools, hospitals, and national defence. 

With the right policies in place, Britain can meet half of our domestic demand from UK production. That means more jobs, higher revenues, and greater security. 

That is how we create more wealth for our country. 

This is why the economy must come first. 

Energy policy is not just about carbon targets or political slogans. It is about whether Britain grows or declines. Whether we strengthen our economy or weaken it. There is no growth without energy and under Conservative leadership, our economy will always be our number one priority. 

But growth will not come without changes to the regulatory regime. 

Right now, the regulatory system is strangling the North Sea. 

We have more lawyers trying to stop oil and gas than rigs producing it. 

We need to overhaul the planning system for The North Sea. Because let's be honest: it has become a paradise for activists and a graveyard for investment. Endless legal challenges, funded by campaign groups, are blocking the very oil and gas projects we need to keep our economy alive. 

Look at Rosebank. I asked Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions why his government pulled the lawyers defending it in court. He had no answer. 

Even now, Labour still refuses to commit to granting new licences at all. They are on the wrong side, standing with campaigning lawyers against British workers. 

Rosebank and Jackdaw could have powered millions of homes. But Labour dropped the appeal and surrendered to the activists.  

That was a political choice, and it cost Britain dearly.  

This lawfare must end, and it will end with the next Conservative government. 

No more judicial overreach, overturning projects that have gone through rigorous approvals. 

No more jobs sacrificed because a judge is persuaded by a pressure group. 

A Conservative government will put the presumption back where it belongs, in favour of new oil and gas projects. Because our workers, our businesses, and our economy deserve certainty, not sabotage. 

And we will go further. People want to know how serious we are. Very serious. 

We will scrap the absurd Net Zero rig requirements. 

Rigs don't need to be Net Zero. They need to produce energy. That is what powers growth, that is what creates jobs, and that will strengthen the United Kingdom. 

Labour's approach means decline by design. Ours, is growth by choice. 

Between 2016 and 2020, government support helped unlock £21 billion of UK oil and gas exports.  

That is what backing a sector looks like. That is what success looks like. Labour's ban is throwing that success away. 

We should be proud. Indeed, I am proud of the cutting-edge technology being developed right here in Aberdeen and around the UK. We should be championing this technology and these companies flying the flag for the skills and expertise developed here in Scotland. 

And if anyone doubts what a supportive government can achieve just look to Norway. 

They are drilling in the very same basins that we are and they are finding billions of barrels. Norway backs its industry. It invests in it. It champions it. And their economy reaps the rewards. 

Britain, by contrast, punishes its industry. We weigh it down with taxes, red tape, and legal challenges. The result? Jobs lost, investment frozen, opportunities squandered. 

And the clock is ticking. 

Unless we act, 180 of our 280 fields will shut down in the next five years.  

That is not a managed transition. That is collapse. 

Ed Miliband and Keir Starmer are not planning for decades ahead. They are killing this industry now. And if they succeed, they will destroy not just jobs in Aberdeen, but our country's ability to stand on its own two feet. 

Labour sees the North Sea as a relic of the past, we see it as a cornerstone of Britain's future.  

By restoring common sense to energy policy, we will unlock billions in revenue, secure our supply, and rebuild confidence in the UK economy. 

Under the Conservatives, British energy will again power British prosperity. 

And let us set the record straight. To those who claim we don't care about climate change, Britain has already decarbonised more than any major economy since 1990. We should be proud of that.  

I believe in stewardship of our natural environment and in protecting what we inherit for future generations. Nature is critical to our food, our water, our climate security. Our countryside and coastlines are a core part of Britain's heritage. The Conservative Party is committed to this. 

But how is any of that served by importing oil from Norway or the Gulf rather than producing our own? 

 It makes no sense environmentally, economically, or strategically. 

We are not anti-renewables if they will cut people's bills. 

But all the evidence shows that Labour's obsession with building more wind and solar before the grid can handle it, and offering more and more subsidies, funded through more levies on bills, is going to drive bills up. 

Meanwhile, we now have the highest industrial energy prices in the developed world. This cannot go on. It is driving factories abroad, hollowing out communities, and pushing up prices across the economy. 

The foundation of economic growth is cheap, abundant energy that must be our priority. That is why it is time to overturn the absurd, anti-prosperity, anti-business, anti-oil, anti-gas, anti- British ban on supporting UK Companies who export their world leading technologies overseas.  

A ban that has done nothing but see business, destined for Britain, to go to overseas companies. 

I am here to tell you only one party will fight for this industry and succeed, the Conservatives. 

The SNP have taken a wrecking ball to the industry. 

Reform want the state to get involved in our oil and gas fields, taking us back to the bad old days of the 1970s when the government controlled British industries, running them into the ground. 

Meanwhile the Labour government have Ed Miliband strangling the North Sea in his dogmatic pursuit of net zero 2050, refusing new oil and gas licences, and refusing to support UK companies who export oil and gas technologies abroad. 

This is unilateral, economic, disarmament dressed up as virtue. 

It is time to put Britain first. To back our workers. To back our businesses. To back our North Sea. 

Conservatives will not be bullied by activists. We will not be tied down by Labour's decline and we will not surrender Britain's future. 

We are going to get all our oil and gas out of the North Sea. For jobs. For growth. For the next generation. 

Thank you.”