Labour is still in a muddle on North Sea oil and gas | Nils Pratley
Labour’s manifesto commitment on North Sea oil and gas production was a fudge.On one hand, it said no new licences “to explore new fields” would be granted.On the other, it said existing fields would be managed “for the entirety of their lifespan” in a way “that does not jeopardise jobs”.The formulation raised many questions.Where, exactly, would the line be drawn between a new field and an existing field? What would be the approach to protecting workers when, as now, North Sea jobs are estimated to be going at a rate of 1,000 a month according to analysis by Robert Gordon University?The thinking is only slightly easier to understand now.
The clear part is that Ed Miliband’s energy security and net zero department will create “transitional energy certificates” for “limited” oil and gas drilling in areas that are part of an existing field or adjacent to a licensed field.The idea is to keep those sites economically viable for longer by using existing rigs and pipelines.The approach sounds sensibly practical.The UK’s current reliance on imported oil and gas is doing little to reduce emissions (shipments of liquefied gas from the US and Qatar are far more polluting than domestic production) or protect jobs in a supply chain that will be needed to build renewables infrastructure.The risk in not allowing “tiebacks” is that decline in the North Sea accelerates even faster at a time when oil and gas still provides three-quarters of the UK’s energy needs and imports are running at 40%.
Miliband has proved to be more pragmatic on licensing than his industry critics made out.And, yes, his policy reads as manifesto-compliant.But here’s the rub: the chancellor didn’t budge an inch on the windfall tax, the energy profits levy (EPL) introduced during the price spikes of 2022.The Treasury intends to keep the EPL in place until its scheduled end in 2030.Oil and gas companies say the levy is the real reason they’re cutting investment: the UK is simply uncompetitive when the marginal rate of tax in the North Sea is 78% and 2022’s sky-high prices for oil and gas have reversed.
“If the levy stays in place beyond 2026, projects will stall and jobs will vanish, no matter how pragmatic licensing policy becomes,” argued the trade lobby group Offshore Energies UK,One could take the view that the industry is exaggerating and that producers in practice will leap at the chance to get their hands on tieback licences, perhaps in the expectation that the EPL will disappear early anyway when oil and gas prices fall far enough to trigger automatic cut-offs (the oil price is there already, but both have to happen for six months),Well, maybe – but that prospect is obviously highly uncertain,The position therefore is a muddle of a different type,The energy department’s looser licensing regime and the Treasury’s tight tax policy are pulling in opposite directions.
It makes it hard to understand what the government is trying to achieve.Certainly, nobody is talking about actual production targets for the North Sea, which you’d think would be a basic requirement of a “fair, managed and prosperous” strategy for transition.The thinking does not look joined-up.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionMissed opportunity of the budget? Proper reform of stamp duty on shares.Rachel Reeves opted instead for the token gesture of a three-year stamp duty holiday for new listings on the London Stock Exchange.
A bolder move would have been to cut, or abolish, the 0.5% charge on all share transactions.It would have shown real commitment to reviving the London market and would have sat perfectly alongside the cut to £12,000 in cash Isa limits.The chancellor added she will “continue to evaluate” stamp taxes on shares to support “the competitiveness of our world-leading capital markets”.Come on, this dance has already gone on too long.
No other major financial centre charges 0,5% and AstraZeneca, the biggest company in town, has already found a way around it,
World Cup winner Abby Dow quits rugby in shock move to focus on career
The Rugby World Cup winner Abby Dow has announced her shock retirement from professional rugby, with the Red Roses head coach, John Mitchell, bemoaning the fact that England have lost “the best right winger in world rugby at the peak of her powers”.Dow has made the surprise move to focus on her engineering career. The England player’s last game came in the World Cup final in September when the Red Roses defeated Canada 33-13 in front of a world‑record crowd of 81,885 at Twickenham. Alongside the World Cup in her 59‑cap international career, the 28-year-old Dow won seven Six Nations titles and two WXV 1 trophies.The announcement is not a complete surprise as the wing left her club, Trailfinders, in June and had not signed for another side before the Premiership Women’s Rugby season, which began on 24 October
The Spin | First-over destroyer Mitchell Starc deserves place among Australia’s greats
When I close my eyes at night, Mitchell Starc is at the top of his run. It might be punishment for forgetting to vote for him in the Guardian’s all-time Ashes players list.His 6ft 6in frame elongates and stretches until he’s uncomfortably filling my mind’s eye and then the legs start, a nightmare-beautiful rhythmic run. The arms piston, the eyes steady, the head as still as a marble mantelpiece. He’s a cheetah in giant white wristbands, a moon-marauding wolf, a river of melted chocolate, that expensive, unpalatable, 95% stuff
Roman amphitheatre older than Colosseum gets accessible facelift for Winter Paralympics
A 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre is to be made fully accessible to people with disabilities before the Winter Paralympic Games in Milano‑Cortina, as organisers prioritise legacy with 100 days to go.The conversion of the Arena di Verona, which will host the Paralympics opening ceremony, includes the addition of a lift and toilets to a structure older than the Colosseum. Described by the Milano-Cortina 2026 chief executive, Andrea Varnier, as “the symbol of our Paralympic Games”, he admits the conversion has also been considered as an act of “blasphemy” by some traditionalists.“The decision to stage the opening ceremony in the Arena di Verona is not just an aesthetic one although, of course, we like to showcase such a beauty,” Varnier said. “But it was also an idea, to make the arena accessible and not only the arena itself but the entire route from the railway station to the venue
Short first Ashes Test results in record donation of surplus food across Western Australia
The shortened Ashes Test in Perth might have left administrators scrambling to recover a multimillion-dollar shortfall, broadcasters scrambling to fill three days of airtime and fans wondering what to do with newfound time on their hands, but for others, England’s early capitulation in the series opener was a blessing.A huge surplus of food, which was intended for another bumper crowd with a third day of cricket anticipated but never used as the game wrapped up inside two days, has been donated to charitable causes across Western Australia.Optus Stadium, known as Perth Stadium for the duration of the first Test, directed all surplus food to OZHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue service, which in turn partnered with SecondBite and Foodbank WA to distribute the food to those in need across the state.The organisation said it was the biggest single donation it had ever received in Western Australia.WA’s deputy premier, Rita Saffioti, lauded the move, saying it demonstrated “community spirit at its best”
England can’t change now: Bazball approach must be seen through to its conclusion | Taha Hashim
Travis Head’s latest masterpiece is three days old, the postmortems are complete and England supporters have done their pained vox pops in Australia. And somehow we’re still more than a week out from the second Ashes Test. It’s a hefty gap bound to be filled by rage, moving from the defeat in Perth to the preparation for a pink‑ball affair in Brisbane.England’s first-stringers could pass the time with a day‑night knockabout against a prime minister’s XI in Canberra. Instead, as planned, it will be a Lions side that plays this weekend, joined by Josh Tongue, Matt Potts and Jacob Bethell, unused squad members in Perth
England have no plans to reward Borthwick with new deal despite winning run
The Rugby Football Union has no plans to begin talks with Steve Borthwick over extending his contract beyond 2027 “for the foreseeable future” despite England’s 11-match winning streak and autumn clean sweep.Borthwick’s contract runs until the end of 2027 but with England halfway through the current World Cup cycle and currently third in the world rankings, the RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, has no immediate intention of discussing an extension in a sea change from the union’s previous approach.During his tenure, Sweeney has made it a priority to improve England’s succession planning, appointing Nigel Redman as team performance director, but the chief executive has raised the prospect of Borthwick heading into the 2027 World Cup unclear if he will continue beyond the competition.Indeed, with a little more than 18 months and only 17 matches before England begin World Cup preparations, Sweeney is in no rush to tie Borthwick down.Borthwick’s predecessor, Eddie Jones, was appointed in late 2015 through to the 2019 World Cup but in January 2018 his contract was extended through to 2021 by the then chief executive, Steve Brown
Labour is still in a muddle on North Sea oil and gas | Nils Pratley
Ed Miliband confirms crackdown on North Sea exploration – but new drilling will continue
ChatGPT firm blames boy’s suicide on ‘misuse’ of its technology
Europe loosens reins on AI – and US takes them off
Commonwealth Games hosts Ahmedabad vow not to repeat Delhi 2010 farce
Field of Dreams-like shrine to cricket built ‘from bud to bat’ – photo essay