Conservatives publish Get Britain Drilling Now Bill

Tomorrow [Tuesday 31^st March 2026], the Conservatives are taking the rare step of publishing a draft Get Britain Drilling Now Bill to promote investment in oil and gas, tackle net-zero lawfare and Get Britain Drilling Now, so we can secure cheap, reliable energy and cut energy bills.

The Get Britain Drilling Now Bill would significantly reduce the legal obstacles to approving new oil and gas projects in the UK, clearing the way for the extraction of the resources Britain urgently needs.

At present, planning decisions about these projects must consider their effect on “downstream emissions” – the hypothetical CO2 produced by burning the fuel that's extracted. This serves as a major obstacle to any substantial investment, as planning permission is denied on these grounds, leaving Britain importing large quantities of oil and gas from abroad.

Activist lawyers and interest groups use lawfare to stop oil and gas projects from proceeding, despite them clearly being in the public interest. They home in downstream emissions and get important projects thrown out.

The Conservatives' Get Britain Drilling Now Bill would therefore remove the requirement for downstream emissions to be considered, reversing the January 2025 Scottish Court of Session ruling that this government should have appealed, but didn't, leaving advanced investment stranded and future projects paralysed by uncertainty. This legislation would give confidence to companies to invest in oil and gas in the North Sea, by taking it out of the hands of judges and energy secretaries to decide if they have met arbitrary bureaucratic requirements.

And it would also apply retroactively, disapplying all rejections of such planning applications where the decision was made on the grounds of downstream emissions. This would mean companies previously blocked from investing would be free to revive their proposals.

Right now, as families face rising energy costs, jobs are disappearing thanks to Labour's refusal to capitalise on the resources in the North Sea. In contrast, the Conservatives' plans to promote new investment in oil and gas will make Britain more resilient to global energy supply and price shocks, increase tax revenue so we can get bills down, and support jobs.

The news follows the Conservatives' announcement of their new plans to drill in the North Sea and cut bills by £200. The new Cheap Power Plan would remove VAT from household energy bills for the next 3 years, providing immediate relief for consumers with an average saving of £94 per household per year.

Unlike Reform, the Conservatives have a fully funded plan. The Cheap Power Plan will be funded by scrapping various taxpayer-funded Net Zero schemes, including Ed Miliband's GB Energy, heat pump subsidies, and abolishing the Renewable Obligation subsidies currently being funded through general taxation. It will also lead to cheaper energy for businesses.

Increased investment in oil and gas extraction will generate billions of pounds in tax revenue which can be used to reduce the wider tax burden and ease the cost of living.

The Conservatives are the only party with a plan to secure cheap, reliable energy for the long term, supporting families and businesses and providing the power to Get Britain Working Again.

Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Conservative Party, said:

“We need to get Britain drilling in the North Sea. It's good for our energy security, our financial security, and our national security. Keir Starmer hides behind legal process because he doesn't have the backbone to stand up to Ed Miliband.

“The Conservatives have had enough. This bill would stop the lawfare and free our oil and gas industry to start drilling, creating new jobs and bringing in revenue to get energy bills down. This is another step in our Cheap Power Plan, which will cut bills by £200 and ensure a stronger economy and a stronger country.”

Claire Coutinho MP, Shadow Energy Secretary, said:

“It is unforgivable that Labour are continuing with Ed Miliband's mad plan to shut down our own energy supplies in the North Sea in the middle of an energy crisis.

“Keir Starmer is too weak to stand up to Ed Miliband, who has allowed radical activists to make us weaker, poorer, and more dependent on foreign imports with higher emissions through endless lawfare.

“Our Bill will clear the way for investment in our own energy production so we get more of our energy from Britain rather than from abroad. We must Get Britain Drilling.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The Conservative Party has published draft Bill to promote investment in oil and gas, tackle net-zero lawfare and Get Britain Drilling Now so we can secure cheap, reliable energy

Get Britain Drilling Now

Bill

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a

BILL

TO

Make provision about the assessment of environmental effects of developments involving the extraction of fossil fuels; to provide that downstream greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion or other end use of extracted hydrocarbons are not required to be assessed as part of the environmental impact assessment of such developments; to validate certain decisions relating to the grant of consent and planning permission for such developments; and for connected purposes.

BE IT ENACTED by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows –

Part 1

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS AND DOWNSTREAM GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

1     Amendment of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017

(1)  The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/571) (“the 2017 Regulations”) are amended in accordance with subsections (2) to (4).

(2)  In Regulation 4 (Environmental impact assessment process), subsection 2, delete “and indirect.”

(3) After Regulation 4 insert –

“4A     Scope of assessment: downstream emissions

(1)  For the purposes of these Regulations, the “direct significant effects of the proposed development” on the “climate” do not include greenhouse gas emissions arising from the combustion or other end use of fossil fuels extracted pursuant to the development by persons other than the applicant or developer (“downstream emissions”).

(2)  “Fossil fuels” means coal, petroleum (including crude oil and natural gas), oil shale, and any derivative of those substances.”

(4)  In Regulation 5 (General provisions relating to screening), after paragraph (3) insert –

“(3A)  In making a screening decision or a screening direction under this Part, the relevant planning authority or the Secretary of State (as the case may be) is not required to have regard to downstream emissions (within the meaning given by Regulation 2A) when considering whether a development is likely to have significant effects on the climate by virtue of factors such as its nature, size or location.”

(5)  In Schedule 4 (Information for inclusion in environmental statements), in paragraph 5 delete “and any indirect, secondary, cumulative, transboundary, short-term, medium-term and long-term, permanent and temporary, positive and negative effects”.

2     Amendment of the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020

(1)               The Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1497) (“the 2020 Regulations”) are amended in accordance with subsections (2), (3) and (4).

(2)             In Regulation 4 (Requirement for consent), after subsection (5) insert –

“(6)  In determining an application for consent under these Regulations, the Secretary of State and the OGA must not have regard to the effect of downstream emissions (within the meaning given by Regulation 4A) when assessing the likely significant effects of the project on the environment.”

(7) The amendments made by this section have effect in relation to –

(a) any application for consent made on or after the day on which this Act is passed, and

(b)  any application for consent made before that day in respect of which a decision has not been taken.”

(3)  In Schedule 5 (Matters to be taken into account in deciding whether a project is likely to have a significant effect on the environment), after paragraph 3 insert –

“3A   When assessing the “likely significant effects of the project” on the “climate” these do not include greenhouse gas emissions arising from the combustion or other end use of hydrocarbons extracted pursuant to the project by persons other than the developer (“downstream emissions”).”

(4) In Schedule 6 (Information for the environmental statement), after paragraph 5 insert –

“5A When assessing the “likely significant effects of the project” on the “climate” these do not include greenhouse gas emissions arising from the combustion or other end use of hydrocarbons extracted pursuant to the project by persons other than the developer (“downstream emissions”).”

3     Disapplication of Finch

(1)  The decision of the Supreme Court in R (Finch) v Surrey County Council [2024] UKSC 20 (“the Finch decision”), insofar as it establishes that an environmental impact assessment of a development for the extraction of fossil fuels is required to assess the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the downstream combustion or other end use of the extracted hydrocarbons, does not apply, and is to be treated as never having applied, to any development.

(2)  No court or tribunal may, in proceedings relating to a development within the meaning of the 2017 Regulations, or the 2020 Regulations, have regard to the Finch decision for the purpose of requiring or determining that the environmental impact assessment of the development must include an assessment of downstream emissions.

(3)  In this section, “downstream emissions” has the meaning given by Regulation 4A of the 2017 Regulations (as inserted by section 1(3)).

4     Validation of planning decisions

(1)  This section applies to any decision to grant planning permission or to grant consent for a development under the 2017 Regulations, or the 2020 Regulations, which –

(a)  was taken before the day on which this Act is passed, and

(b)  has been quashed or declared unlawful by a court or tribunal, or is the subject of proceedings in which a court or tribunal has been asked to quash or declare it unlawful, on the ground (whether alone or together with other grounds) that the environmental impact assessment within the meaning of the 2017 Regulations or the 2020 Regulations did not assess downstream emissions.

(2)  A decision to which this section applies is to be treated for all purposes as having been lawfully taken, insofar as the ground for its being quashed or declared unlawful was the failure to assess downstream emissions.

(3)  Any order of a court or tribunal quashing or declaring unlawful a decision to which this section applies, insofar as it was made on the ground referred to in subsection (1)(b), is of no effect.

(4)  Subsections (2) and (3) do not affect the validity of any other ground on which a decision has been quashed or declared unlawful.

Part 2

General

5    Assimilated EU law

(1)  The provisions of this Act have effect notwithstanding –

(a)  any retained EU law or assimilated direct legislation (within the meaning of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018),

(b)  Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU), as it forms part of domestic law, and

(c)  any other enactment or rule of law.

6     Other environmental impact assessment regimes

(1)  The Secretary of State may by regulations made by statutory instrument make provision corresponding to the provision made by Part 1 of this Act in relation to any other enactment or subordinate legislation which requires an assessment of the environmental effects of a development or project (“other EIA legislation”).

(2)  Regulations under subsection (1) may in particular –

(a)  amend other EIA legislation to exclude downstream emissions from the scope of environmental impact assessment,

(b)  provide that the Finch decision does not apply to developments or projects under other EIA legislation, and

(c)  validate decisions taken under other EIA legislation which have been quashed or challenged on scope 3 grounds.

(3)  A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.

7    Power to make consequential provision

(1)  The Secretary of State may by regulations made by statutory instrument make such consequential, supplementary, incidental, transitional, transitory, or saving provision as the Secretary of State considers appropriate in connection with any provision of this Act.

(2)  Regulations under subsection (1) may amend, repeal, or revoke any provision made by or under an Act of Parliament passed before, or in the same Session as, this Act.

(3)  A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section that amend or repeal any provision of an Act of Parliament may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.

(4)  Any other statutory instrument containing regulations under this section is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

8     Extent, commencement, and short title

(1)  This Act extends to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

(2)  This Act comes into force on the day on which it is passed.

(3)  This Act may be cited as the Environmental Impact Assessment (Downstream Emissions) Act 2026.

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The Conservatives will take VAT off domestic energy bills for the next three years:

• We would cut the average electricity bill by £94 by removing VAT from energy bills for households for the next three years. Based on Cornwall Insight forecasts of the energy price cap for July 2026, removing the 5 per cent VAT levied on bills would save £94. HM Treasury has previously costed this measure at £2.2 billion. Over the next three years, this could be funded by ending renewables subsidies, 75% of the cost of which Labour shifted onto taxpayers at the Budget. (Cornwall Insight, accessed 27 March 2026, link; HMRC, Non-structural tax relief statistics (December 2024), 5 December 2024, link).

The Conservatives will Axe the Carbon Tax on electricity generation:

• The Conservatives will axe the Carbon Tax for electricity generation, cutting the average electricity bill by £75. The Carbon Tax (the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and Carbon Price Support (CPS)) will be scrapped for electricity generation. This will reduce wholesale electricity prices by around 30 per cent, or around £26 per MWh. The ETS and CPS are taxes that are charged on gas power stations when they generate electricity, which are passed straight through to households and businesses in their energy bills (Conservative Party Analysis of DESNZ data, 26 September 2025).

The Conservatives will scrap Ed Miliband's old renewable subsidies:

• The Conservatives will scrap Ed Miliband's extortionate old renewable subsidies, cutting electricity bills by £22 and saving taxpayers money. The Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) scheme pays subsidies to wind and solar farms and other renewable generators, who are paid up to three times the market price of electricity. These subsidies are paid by every household and almost all businesses through their electricity bills and partially through taxation. The ROC subsidies are reliant on primary legislation, meaning they can be stopped at any point (Ofgem, Policy cost allowance methodology, accessed 27 March 2026, link).

The Conservatives will Get Britain Drilling, backing North Sea oil and gas and using the revenues to cut the cost of living for households:

• The Conservatives will back the North Sea to generate billions in additional tax revenue a year. Analysis by independent investment bank Stifel has shown that the Energy Profits Levy and ban on new licences is making the basin uninvestable, losing the Exchequer £25 billion in tax revenue over the next ten years (Stifel, Written Evidence to ESNZ Select Committee,January 2026, link). Work by Offshore Energies UK also finds that ending the ban on new North Sea fields could yield billions in tax revenues.  These revenues will create the opportunity to keep taxes and bills lower over the long term.

The Conservative Party will back the North Sea:

• Repealing the ban on new oil and gas licences to unlock 2.9 billion barrels. Labour's ban on new oil and gas licences called time on Britain's oil and gas industry leaving 2.9 billion barrels in the ground and risking 200,000 jobs.We will extract this oil and gas, creating £165 billion in economic value (OEUK, Key facts, accessed 31 August 2025, link; OEUK, Press Release, 23 June 2025, link).

• Repealing the Energy Profits Levy to maximise investment in British oil and gas production. The Energy Profits Levy, an additional 38 per cent levy on the upstream production of oil and gas, is set to expire on 31 March 2030. The Conservatives have pledged to remove it once elected and called on the government to remove it immediately (HMRC, Policy Paper, 30 October 2024, link).

• Replacing the North Sea Transition Authorities (NSTA) mandate to ‘maximise the extraction of our oil and gas'. The NSTA requires oil and gas companies to fulfil a range of net zero obligations such as connecting oil rigs to the grid and reducing flaring, venting, and emissions. We will change this to one sole mandate of maximising oil and gas extraction and rename the NSTA to the North Sea Authority (The Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2025, link).

• Reversing the ban on government support for the export of oil and gas technology to unlock billions in oil and gas technology exports. UK Export Finance (UKEF) supported on average £5 billion of oil and gas technology exports annually before government support for it was banned. We will reverse this ban to create jobs and unlock billions of exports (The Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2025, link).

Labour and Reform do not have a plan to cut energy bills for business:

• Labour's energy bill reduction measure did nothing to support business, instead only moving costs from household bills to general taxation.At the Spring Statement, the Chancellor announced a package which included an £88 saving by moving 75 per cent of the cost of ROCs onto general taxation from energy bills for households and a £59 saving by not renewing the Energy Company Obligation which was funded through a levy on household bills (HMT, Budget 2025, 28 November 2025, link).

• Reform are flip flopping over whether to nationalise the North Sea. Reform's contract with the people committed the party to nationalising ‘critical national infrastructure', including bringing 50 per cent of each utility into public ownership. Just last week, the Financial Times reported that Reform has dropped its pledge to nationalise strategic industries, despite pledging to take part ownership of Rolls Royce (The Financial Times, 25 March 2026, link).

• Reform said they would ‘wipe out shareholders' when nationalising businesses, wiping out people's hard earned savings and pension. FARAGE: ‘Water's a different case. That's Thames Water, who have lost all credibility, morally and financially. And our plan was, as I say, it wouldn't cost us anything. We'd wipe out the shareholders and look for new partners' (Reform Press Conference, 3 November 2025, archived).

• Reform UK dropped their half-baked energy plan that would drive up costs for households and businesses. In February 2025, Reform UK announced a half-baked plan to impose a ‘windfall tax on all renewable generated power', ‘a solar farm tax' – tax increases that would have been passed on to households and businesses at a time when our domestic and industrial prices are among the highest in the world (Reform UK, Reform UK's Renewable Warning, 12 February 2025, archived; DESNZ, Energy Prices: International Comparisons, 30 September 2025, link). 

Energy bills are up by £73 under Labour:

• The energy price cap has increased by £73 since Labour came to power, despite their promise to cut bills by £300. The energy price cap for July to September 2024 was £1,568 compared to £1,641for April to June 2026, a £73 increase (Ofgem,Energy Price Cap, accessed 7 August 2025, link).