Labour's ban on new oil and gas licences in the North Sea could cause blackouts, Kemi Badenoch warned yesterday.
The Tory leader said Britain is ‘dangerously exposed’ to supply squeezes, and families risked paying the price unless Keir Starmer changed tack.
In a speech to the Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen, Mrs Badenoch outlined how she would lift the Labour ban to boost exploration and extraction.
She said: ‘Without stimulating investment now, the UK will be reliant on imports for more than 80 per cent of oil and gas demand by 2030. That would leave us dangerously exposed to supply squeezes.’
Asked by the Mail if she believed there was a danger of the lights going out unless Labour changed its approach, she said: ‘Yes, because if we continue on this trajectory we are going to be even more reliant on exports... Security of supply is absolutely critical. One hundred per cent of the gas in the North Sea is used in the UK, that is 21 million homes that are currently still reliant on gas.
