Kemi Badenoch oil speech: ‘drill baby drill will kill’

Climate campaigners have slammed the speech from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch as “doing the bidding of oil lobbyists” that will worsen climate breakdown and do nothing to cut energy bills.  

Friends of the Earth Scotland oil and gas campaigns manager Rosie Hampton said: 
“Politicians calling for unlimited fossil fuel drilling are doing the bidding of oil industry lobbyists because nobody else considers it a credible approach. The ‘drill baby drill’ approach to fossil fuels being pushed by Trump and his imitators will kill people by worsening climate breakdown.

“Any oil drilled from the North Sea is owned by the companies and is sold to the highest bidder on the international market. Increasing extraction will do nothing to reduce the household bills which have been held hostage by greedy energy companies for years now.”

“Jobs in oil and gas have halved since 2014 despite hundreds of licenses issued during that time. Supporting energy workers means creating credible, funded transition pathways into well paid, secure renewables jobs – not chasing the dregs of a mature North Sea basin.”

“By dropping climate commitments, politicians are abandoning their responsibility to protect the public from the extreme weather and disasters that are mounting both at home and across the world.”