Amid Rising Fuel Costs, Voters Urge Miliband to Reconsider Net Zero Focus and Reassess North Sea Oil and Gas Ban

Amid rising tensions with Iran and escalating energy costs, voters are urging the Labour Party to reconsider its stance on North Sea drilling. This call to action is driven by a desire to mitigate the financial strain on households resulting from the recent crisis.

There is increasing pressure on Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to move away from strict environmental policies and tap into the estimated £165 billion worth of oil and gas reserves available in British waters. This comes as divisions within the Cabinet grow and demands increase for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reconsider proposed fuel tax increases planned for this fall.

The geopolitical situation has taken a toll on energy prices worldwide, following Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in response to U.S. and Israeli military actions. In the UK, this has pushed diesel prices perilously close to £2 per litre.

A survey conducted by Lord Ashcroft, a former Conservative deputy chairman, reveals that half of the electorate believes Mr. Miliband should adopt a more aggressive approach to oil and gas extraction, echoing sentiments famously championed by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The poll, highlighted in The Mail on Sunday, also uncovers a historic three-way tie among the Conservatives, the Reform Party, and the Greens, each holding 21 percent of voter support. Meanwhile, Labour finds itself in a challenging position, trailing at 17 percent.

It is the first time in nearly a year that Reform UK has not led in a survey and will add to mounting anxiety within the party over Nigel Farage’s apparent loss of momentum ahead of next month’s local elections.

With no end in sight to the Iran war:

• The desperate hunt for an American airman downed in Iran intensified on Saturday night as US special forces raced against armed nomads to find the missing crewman in the south of the country;

Research conducted by former Conservative deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft has found that half of all voters think Mr Miliband should ‘drill, baby, drill’. Pictured: Mr Miliband on a visit to the Port of Holyhead, North Wales in 2024

Since Iran began its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, following US and Israeli attacks, global energy prices have soared. Pictured: File photo of an offshore oil and gas platform 

The findings – that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband should ditch Net Zero dogma and release the £165billion worth of oil and gas beneath British waters – come amid a growing Cabinet split on the issue. Pictured: Mr Miliband on BBC current affairs programme Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg last month

• President Trump issued a blistering warning to Iran to re-open the Strait of Hormuz, warning on social media: ‘Time is running out – 48 hours before all hell will reign [sic] down on them. Glory be to God!’

• An elite team of Royal Navy divers are on standby to deploy to the Strait of Hormuz to help defuse Iranian sea mines blocking shipping lanes;

• Former RAF pilot John Peters – who was shot down and captured in Iraq in 1991 – warned the downed airman would be involved in a desperate bid to evade capture.

A fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz and its closure has put intense pressure on the global economy.

Britain’s North Sea oil reserves were central to Margaret Thatcher’s administration in the 1980s, with the £70billion in revenues helping to fund industrial restructuring and tax cuts.

Mr Miliband has stuck to his Net Zero-driven opposition to new fossil fuel extraction, insisting that approving new drilling licences would not lower bills for UK consumers.

Last week, he said that ‘people who say new exploration licences will somehow create huge amounts of energy for us’ were ‘just wrong’.

Ms Reeves, by contrast, has said she is ‘very happy’ to back exploration at the Rosebank oilfield and Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.

Mr Miliband (pictured, on a visit to the London Power Tunnels last month) has stuck to his Net Zero-driven opposition to new fossil fuel extraction

But the Tories and Reform have called for the Energy Secretary to reverse his ‘ideological’ opposition to accessing the three billion barrels of oil and gas, which are worth about £165billion. Pictured: The Well-Safe Protector oil rig in Aberdeen 

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch (pictured, on a visit to a chemical company in Teesside on the local election campaign trail this week) has called the failure to tap North Sea oil and gas ‘economic insanity’

On Saturday night, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice (pictured, at a Reform UK press conference last month) told this newspaper: ‘This poll proves that the British people have far more common sense than the political class’

The Tories and Reform have called for the Energy Secretary to reverse his ‘ideological’ opposition to accessing the three billion barrels of oil and gas, which are worth about £165billion, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch describing the failure as ‘economic insanity’. 

On Saturday night, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice told this newspaper: ‘This poll proves that the British people have far more common sense than the political class. 

‘We’ve got hundreds of billions of pounds worth of energy treasure sitting under our feet.

‘It’s our patriotic duty to maximise British gas production, create jobs, boost growth, and achieve true energy independence.

‘Labour and the Tories have failed on this for years. Reform will lift the restrictions on day one, get drilling and deliver lower bills for everyone.’

That view has been echoed by President Trump, who has described the North Sea as a ‘treasure chest’ for the UK and urged Sir Keir Starmer to take advantage of it.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, the SNP, Tony Blair’s think tank and the Labour-supporting GMB Union have also expressed their support.

The average price of a litre of diesel at UK forecourts is up 30 per cent since the start of the war to 185.2p and could breach £2 within weeks, experts have warned.

Meanwhile, petrol prices have risen 16 per cent to an average of 154.5p per litre over the same period.

That view has been echoed by US President Donald Trump (pictured during a televised address on the war in the Middle East this week), who has described the North Sea as a ‘treasure chest’ for the UK and urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to take advantage of it

The average price of a litre of diesel at UK forecourts is up 30 per cent since the start of the war to 185.2p and could breach £2 within weeks, experts have warned. Pictured: File photo of a petrol and diesel price sign at a station in London this week 

Meanwhile, Chancellor Rachel Reeves (pictured in the House of Commons last month) is planning to end the current 5p a litre fuel duty relief in September

Ms Reeves, who is raking in more than £100million in extra VAT receipts each month, is planning to end the current 5p a litre fuel duty relief in September, a move which will add, on average, another £3 to the cost of filling a tank.

Governments around the world have been lowering fuel taxes to ease the burden on households from soaring petrol and diesel prices.

Anthony Albanese, the Australian Prime Minister, has already halved fuel duty.

Writing in this week’s Mail on Sunday, Lord Ashcroft says: ‘Having seen how precarious our supplies from the Middle East can be, more think the Government should end its absurd ban on new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea than keep it.

‘For worried families, household bills and security of supply tend to win out over Net Zero targets.’