Kemi Badenoch: No more net zero – extract every drop of North Sea oil

Kemi Badenoch will this week unveil a pledge to extract as much oil and gas from the North Sea as possible.

In a speech that will draw comparison to Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” moment, the Tory leader will vow to abolish swathes of environmental restrictions on fossil fuel extraction. It will be her greatest departure from net zero to date and emulate the wealth-creating approach taken by Norway.

During a speech in Aberdeen, she will establish a clear dividing line with Ed Miliband, who is forging ahead with net zero plans to ban new oil and gas licences.

His stance has attracted significant criticism at a time when Norway, which exports gas to Britain, is planning to open fields in its North Sea sector.

Mrs Badenoch will announce that the Tories plan to completely overhaul the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which oversees the issuing of licences.

The party would delete the entirety of its current 12-page mandate and replace it with a single instruction to “maximise the extraction of our oil and gas”.

It would also remove the word “transition” from the body’s title, which was added by Boris Johnson in March 2022 to signal the phase-out of fossil fuels.