Former Labour Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon tore apart right-wing claims about oil and gas in the North Sea
Reform’s candidate for London Mayor, Laila Cunningham, got schooled on the reality of drilling for more oil and gas in the North Sea.
Geoff Hoon, a former defence secretary under Tony Blair, dismantled Cunningham’s claims that drilling for more oil and gas from the UK’s fields in the North Sea would give Britain greater energy ‘independence’.
Reform UK has said that the UK producing its own oil and gas by drilling more in the North Sea, would make energy bills cheaper.
However, Hoon pointed out that the UK’s oil and gas fields in the North Sea have largely been depleted, with 75% or more of them exhausted.
Debating on GB News, Hoon told Cunningham: “The North Sea is a fading force as far as gas and oil is concerned. Every expert says so, the only people who appear to contradict that are Reform and frankly sadly the Conservative Party chasing Reform.”
Cunningham challenged Hoon, saying: “Where are we getting most of our oil from now?”.
Hoon said that the UK is getting oil from the US and Norway. Cunningham asked where Norway is getting their oil from.
Hoon said: “They’re getting it from their fields in the North Sea, which are not exhausted in the way ours are.”
“So somehow their fields in the North Sea are not exhausted, but where that border parts with us… do you understand that you don’t make sense?”, Cunningham said.
The Labour figure said that Cunningham was “making political points” and “not dealing with the reality of the North Sea”.
Cunningham then said that the “political reality” is that the UK does not have energy “dependency”, and that diesel prices will go up to £2 per litre.
“I think you mean independence,” Hoon said.
He added: “Your own figure demonstrates actually the problem that Reform and indeed the Conservatives have, which is that the price of oil and gas is determined internationally.”
“You seem to think somehow that there is a magic well of oil sitting there in the North Sea that Britain can get at a price that you want to pay. It’s nonsense.”
Cunningham responded by saying that “the reason that you drill in the North Sea is to have resilience when things like this happen.”
Hoon delivered a final reality check, informing Cunningham that the UK’s North Sea gas fields had supplied just 36 days of gas over the 14-year period from 2010 to 2024.
Asked how much of the UK’s energy comes from renewable sources today, Cunningham appeared not to know, saying “It depends, it’s intermittent.”
Hoon said: “It’s 29%, and it’s growing.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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