Oil and gas part of future for decades to come, says Starmer on nuclear visit Sir Keir Starmer has said that “oil and gas is going to be a big part of the future” for decades to come as he would not “pre-empt” the decision on the Rosebank oil field.
The Prime Minister said that “we do need to transition to clean power” while on a visit to the UK National Nuclear Laboratory, and also pledged to “build, baby, build” as he vowed to take on the “blockers” holding up development.
Sir Keir’s visit to the laboratory in Lancashire, alongside Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, comes as ministers have pledged to create thousands of highly skilled jobs by reforming planning rules to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors.
Asked whether he was minded to grant development at Rosebank, the Prime Minister told Sky News that the licence has to be considered in the light of a new application, and added: “What we said at the election was we weren’t going to interfere with existing licences this process started obviously before the election.”.
On the same visit the Prime Minister was asked by the BBC whether he would say “build baby build”, given President Donald Trump’s call to “drill, baby, drill”.
