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Support for oil and gas is low among the UK public. But in common with several other key areas of climate policy (especially onshore wind) Conservative MPs have a different view. Compared to the public – including Conservative voters – Conservative MPs are more likely to:
What explains this difference in perspective? One answer may simply be the formal position of the Conservative Party, which is to continue awarding new oil and gas licenses (whilst maintaining a commitment to net zero by 2050). Working backwards from the fact the party is committed to approving new oil and gas extraction, Conservative MPs may feel a tension in opposing oil and gas on a personal level (given that they have to represent this policy to their constituents).
And although Conservative MPs overestimate how favourable their voters are towards oil and gas, they are aligned in a different way: Climate Barometer tracker data shows Conservative voters are more likely to oppose (48%) than support (16%) the ending of drilling in the North Sea for oil and gas altogether.
In a reversal of the government’s decision to grant planning permission for a new coal mine near Whitehaven in Cumbria, the High Court ruled that the greenhouse gas emissions of the coal to be burned at the mine had not been taken into account when the decision had been made.
Instead, and echoing the claims of ‘net zero’ airports which don’t include the emissions from flights, consideration had only been given to the emissions released in building and operating the facility.
The High court decision came during the same month that the last of the UK’s coal-fired power stations was closed.
Polling in the weeks leading up the 2024 General Election by the consultancy True North was reported as showing 75% of people supporting North Sea oil & gas – this is a much higher number than would be expected from wider polling. But the wording of the questions asked people to choose between imported oil and domestic oil (not oil vs renewable energy, which is consistently preferred as the best way to reduce the country’s reliance on importing foreign oil and gas).
Polling by Uplift, carried out at a similar time, found that North Sea oil and gas companies are widely considered by most respondents (70%) to benefit more from extraction in the basin than Scotland itself does currently.
Uplift found that SNP voters were the most concerned about climate change, and that 45% of SNP voters thought the UK Government should stop issuing new oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea, compared with 31% in favour of new licensing.
Previous research with SNP voters also found higher support than opposition for ending licenses to drill in the North sea, and at a British level there’s much more support for renewables than oil and gas. But there isn’t yet a clear majority in favour of ending oil and gas exploration altogether – in Scotland or in Britain.