Another day, another pirouette from Keir Starmer and his Labour Party. This government, barely a year in, is already developing a curious reputation—not for vision, not for vigour, but for volatility.
Decisions are made, then swiftly unmade. Why? Because they were terrible decisions to begin with — and public backlash works.
Let’s take stock. Labour removed the winter fuel allowance… backtracked. They were adamant a grooming gang inquiry wouldn’t take place… pressured into reversing course. Now, after months of dithering and judicial obstacles, it appears they are preparing to roll back the very emissions rules that killed two of the UK’s most important energy projects in the North Sea: Equinor’s Rosebank and Shell’s Jackdaw.
Both fields, once condemned by Labour’s own Energy Secretary Ed Miliband as “climate vandalism”, were shelved after legal challenges focused on “Scope 3” emissions (that’s emissions from burning the fuel, not producing it). But now, under pressure from industry and frankly anyone with a grip on reality, Labour may be forced to rewrite their rules. The Telegraph tells us to expect new guidance imminently. Expect those projects to move forward.
Labour’s volte-face is more than just a technical policy shift. It is a tacit admission that the UK cannot keep pretending that importing hydrocarbons from halfway around the world (often extracted under far looser environmental standards) is somehow greener than producing them at home. Net Zero Watch and the Great British PAC have been shouting it from the rooftops, so is Labour finally get it?
Let’s be clear: Net Zero is not served by making Britain dependent on authoritarian regimes for its energy, while sabotaging our own energy sector. The emissions argument collapses when our oil is shipped in tankers from Russia or the Gulf rather than extracted under tight British regulation. And economically? Blocking projects like Rosebank and Jackdaw costs us jobs, investment, and energy security, all while delivering no meaningful global climate benefit.
Shell and Equinor had already sunk hundreds of millions into these projects. Their fury was justified. A judicial review upended the original approvals, and suddenly, decades of UK energy strategy were thrown into doubt. The ripple effects stalled other fields too: BP’s Clair, Serica’s Buchan Horst, even Cambo. The Scottish court rulings created a legal limbo, and the North Sea’s future was frozen.
Now, thanks in part to relentless pressure… yes, from industry, but also from grassroots voices like the Free Speech Union and the Great British PAC, Labour is quietly reversing course on issue after issue.
A new consultation is coming apparently on the North Sea drilling. And if all goes as expected, the UK will unlock its largest remaining undeveloped oil and gas reserves. That’s a win for energy sovereignty and common sense. A win for common sense.
But this is only the beginning. There are still so many troubling and dangerous ideas lurking in Labour’s policy cupboard: the inheritance tax on family farms, VAT on private education—a politics of envy dressed up as fiscal fairness, the killing of babies in a mother’s womb up until birth. There’s also the sovereignty surrender… Gibraltar, the Chagos Islands, and the eyebrow-raising stupidity of also giving billions of British taxpayer away. We could go on and on and on…
Are Labour just naïve? Stupid? Or is there a deeper ideological agenda at play?
Either way, the pattern is clear: pressure matters. Activism is not the preserve of lefty protestors in bike helmets gluing themselves to roads. Those who believe in secure borders, sound money, and sovereign energy must be equally relentless. The so called “patriotic right” can fight back too.
The lesson of Rosebank and Jackdaw is clear: Labour can be forced to behave… by people, by law, and by cold, hard reality. There is nothing more powerful than a public that refuses to be ignored. When citizens stand together, they don’t just move mountains, they move governments.
Watch this space.
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