British motorists have been dealt another brutal blow at the pumps, with the average price of diesel climbing to the highest level ever recorded in the UK.
Diesel reached an average of 199.18p a litre on Monday, according to the RAC, overtaking the previous record set in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in June 2022.
It means filling an average family car with diesel now costs almost £110, around £31 more than at the beginning of the US-Iran conflict.
The consequences will stretch far beyond motorists.
Millions of cars, vans and commercial vehicles depend on diesel, meaning soaring fuel prices feed directly into the cost of transporting food, parcels, building materials and countless other goods around the country.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams warned the record price would be a “financial blow” to households and businesses, with increased transport costs likely to be passed on to consumers.
Petrol drivers are also being squeezed. The RAC said the average price of unleaded had climbed to 174.13p a litre, putting the cost of filling a typical tank at almost £96.
The latest surge has been driven principally by turmoil in international energy markets and disruption to global supplies, once again demonstrating Britain’s exposure to events thousands of miles from its shores.
And that raises an increasingly uncomfortable question for a country sitting beside its own substantial oil and gas resources, why is the Government deliberately ruling out new exploration in the North Sea?
Labour’s North Sea Future Plan commits the Government to allowing existing oil and gas fields to operate for their lifetimes, but explicitly rules out issuing new licences to explore new fields. Limited additional production may be permitted around existing infrastructure through new Transitional Energy Certificates, but these cannot involve new exploration.
At a time when geopolitical turmoil is exposing Britain’s dependence on international energy markets, Conservative Post believes that policy deserves serious scrutiny.
Britain cannot control wars in the Middle East, Russian refinery output or decisions taken by foreign governments. It can, however, decide whether it wants to make greater use of the energy resources beneath British waters.
Opening up new North Sea opportunities would not magically make diesel cheap overnight. Oil and refined fuels are traded internationally, and even the Government argues that additional domestic production would have only a limited effect on overall UK production and would not necessarily translate directly into lower pump prices.
But energy security is about more than tomorrow morning’s forecourt price.
Greater domestic production can reduce exposure to imports, support British jobs, maintain strategically important skills and infrastructure, generate tax revenues and ensure that more of the energy Britain continues to consume is produced at home rather than bought from overseas.
The previous Conservative government argued precisely that case when it backed further North Sea licensing, saying domestic production could bolster energy security and reduce dependence on foreign imports.
Labour has chosen the opposite direction.
Its answer is an accelerated transition towards cleaner domestic energy, arguing that continued dependence on internationally traded fossil fuels leaves households exposed to volatile global markets. Ministers maintain that renewable power, rather than new oil and gas exploration, offers the stronger route to long-term energy security.
But almost £2-a-litre diesel is a stark reminder that the transition has not removed Britain’s present-day dependence on hydrocarbons.
The country still needs oil. It still needs diesel. Its businesses still need vans and lorries. Its farmers still need machinery. Families still need their cars.
Until that changes, deliberately refusing even to explore for new resources beneath British waters risks making Britain more dependent on energy produced elsewhere.
There is something deeply unsatisfactory about possessing domestic energy resources, refusing to search for more of them, and then watching British households and businesses suffer when overseas supplies are disrupted.
A sensible energy strategy should pursue renewables, nuclear power and new technologies while recognising the reality that oil and gas will remain necessary for years to come.
Britain should be producing as much of the energy it still needs as responsibly and securely as possible, rather than outsourcing that production and congratulating itself for being greener on paper.
For motorists staring at another eye-watering number on the fuel pump, Labour’s North Sea policy may be becoming increasingly difficult to justify.
