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Grant Shapps assures the UK’s oil and gas industry it has his full support to continue drilling 

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/sectors/industry/grant-shapps-assures-the-uks-oil-and-gas-industry-it-has-his-full-support-to-continue-drilling/

Meanwhile, at the Royal Courts of Justice, campaigners celebrated a High Court ruling that granted charity Greenpeace permission to proceed with a judicial review of new oil and gas licensing in the North Sea.

The UK’s Secretary of State for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, Grant Shapps, has reassured Britain’s oil and gas industry that it has his full support to continue North Sea drilling during a keynote speech given at the Spectator’s Energy Summit on Wednesday.

At the event, which was sponsored by National Gas as well as Drax, Shapps told an audience mostly composed of energy sector professionals that it “simply makes no sense whatsoever to deny our own oil and gas, and instead import it – with twice the embedded carbon – from elsewhere in the world”. He added that it is “very important” to understand that even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognises the need for “some” oil and gas production in 2050 when the UK has reached net zero.

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Meanwhile, just one mile down the road at the Royal Courts of Justice, campaigners celebrated a High Court ruling that granted charity Greenpeace permission to proceed with a judicial review of the government’s decision to launch a new oil and gas licensing round in the North Sea.

On Wednesday morning, the judge gave Greenpeace permission to conduct a full judicial review into the government’s failure to take into account the environmental effects of consuming the oil and gas due to be extracted in the new licensing round, in which fossil fuel companies submitted more than 100 licences for exploration. 

“See you in court” one campaigner wrote on Twitter tagging Shapps, who was in the process of assuring his audience that the government “will not shy away from awarding new licences where they are justified”. The fate of the controversial Rosebank oil field, with the potential to produce 500m barrels of oil and therefore exceed the UK’s carbon budget, remains undecided.

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/sectors/industry/grant-shapps-assures-the-uks-oil-and-gas-industry-it-has-his-full-support-to-continue-drilling/

Continue ReadingGrant Shapps assures the UK’s oil and gas industry it has his full support to continue drilling 

Suella Braverman misleads public with police hiring claims

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/04/suella-braverman-misleads-public-with-police-hiring-claims/

Government claims are “misleading and misplaced”

Image of Sue-Ellen 'Suella' Braverman

Suella Braverman has been called out over claims made this week that the government has hit record breaking police recruitment targets.

The government are declaring a victory for saying they have delivered a manifesto target of recruiting 20,000 more police officers in England and Wales, as Braverman appealed to the right-wing press by boasting that there are now more officers than ever before in the history of policing.

However this claim has come under rigorous scrutiny, not just from a fact checking charity but also from the Police Federation itself.

Whilst this number is correct based on an increase between 2019 and March 2023, the figures follow a substantial decline in police numbers from 2010 to 2017 – estimated by the charity Full Fact to be a fall of almost 22,000 officers.

Figures revealed that there are actually only around 3,500 more officers now than there were in 2010, due to the huge drop in numbers before 2017.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/04/suella-braverman-misleads-public-with-police-hiring-claims/

Continue ReadingSuella Braverman misleads public with police hiring claims

NIC and CCC call for urgent action to protect infrastructure from climate risks

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https://nic.org.uk/news/nic-and-ccc-call-for-urgent-action-to-protect-infrastructure-from-climate-risks/

The two organisations have written jointly to ministers on the urgent need for action on climate adaptation

The National Infrastructure Commission and Climate Change Committee have written jointly to government urging ministers to take steps to improve the resilience of key infrastructure services to the effects of climate change.

Building on recent reports by both organisations, the advisory bodies set out five steps to accelerate national adaptation planning to protect key networks:

  • Setting clear and measurable goals for resilience, and action plans to deliver them
  • Ensuring these standards are developed in time to inform forthcoming regulatory price control periods (which set investment levels for operators)
  • Giving explicit duties for resilience to all infrastructure regulators
  • Cabinet-level oversight of interdependencies and whole-system resilience
  • Embedding resilience in infrastructure planning as we move to an economy more reliant on electricity

The letter was sent to Oliver Dowden MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Thérèse Coffey MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs yesterday (26 April).

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https://nic.org.uk/news/nic-and-ccc-call-for-urgent-action-to-protect-infrastructure-from-climate-risks/

Continue ReadingNIC and CCC call for urgent action to protect infrastructure from climate risks

‘Inflammatory, polarising and dehumanising’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/braverman-slammed-for-using-abhorrent-and-divisive-rhetoric

Braverman slammed for using ‘abhorrent and divisive’ rhetoric as anti-refugee Bill debated

SUELLA BRAVERMAN was slammed by anti-racists and migrant rights campaigners today after saying that those coming to Britain through non-government approved routes “have values at odds with our country.”

As the Illegal Migrant Bill returned to the Commons today, the Home Secretary said: “We are seeing heightened levels of criminality when related to the people who’ve come on boats, related to drug dealing, exploitation, prostitution.”

The Bill, dubbed the anti-refugee Bill by human rights groups, will change the law so that those who arrive in Britain on small boats and other dangerous routes will be detained and removed to the country they were trying to get away from or to a third country such as Rwanda.

It is expected to pass in the Commons but could face obstacles in the Lords.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/braverman-slammed-for-using-abhorrent-and-divisive-rhetoric

Continue Reading‘Inflammatory, polarising and dehumanising’

Greenpeace granted permission to proceed with a Judicial Review of the Government’s decision to launch a new licensing oil and gas round

Read more about the article Greenpeace granted permission to proceed with a Judicial Review of the Government’s decision to launch a new licensing oil and gas round
Greenpeace image, sign reads CHOOSE OCEANS, NOT OIL
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The High Court yesterday granted Greenpeace permission to proceed with a Judicial Review of the Government’s decision to launch a new licensing oil and gas round, with fossil fuel companies submitting more than 100 licences to explore for new oil and gas. 

The judge has granted permission to Greenpeace for a full Judicial Review of the Government’s decision not to take into account the environmental effects of consuming the oil and gas to be extracted in the new licensing round. 

Greenpeace’s legal argument is that this is a glaring omission from the Government’s decision making, including its climate compatibility check. Since at no time do the test involve looking at the emissions created from burning fossil fuels, despite the fact that this will amount to more than 80% of the total emissions generated from the new licences.

This news comes one month after stark warnings from the IPCC and UN Secretary General which yet again restated that there must be no new fossil fuel development if the world is to limit warming to 1.5C, with current approved projects already enough to take us beyond that point. 

Philip Evans, Greenpeace UK’s climate campaigner, said:

“This verdict is the first real setback for the Government’s reckless oil and gas licensing round. Ministers will now be forced to justify in front of a judge why they want to unleash a new drilling frenzy in the North Sea against the advice of leading scientists and the UN chief, without assessing the climate impact. 

“The Government already has the solutions to tackle the scandal of the cost of living, guarantee our energy security, and help the climate but the Government is ignoring them in favour of their friends in the fossil fuel industry. They must instead upgrade our old fashioned electricity grid, invest in cheap home grown renewables and stop energy waste from our homes.”

North Sea drilling: Greenpeace prepares to challenge ‘disastrous’ UK decision

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A court hearing on Tuesday will determine whether the environmental group will be permitted a judicial review of the decision, made during Liz Truss’s short-lived time as prime minister.

Last year, her administration kicked off an oil and gas licensing round under which companies could bid for more than 100 new licences to explore for oil and gas.

The North Sea Transition Authority began the process in October, offering up about 900 locations for exploration, and it is expected to conclude in June. It is the first new licensing round since 2019-20.

The decision was carried out by the then energy secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, under Truss despite warnings of possible legal action by Greenpeace. The green organisation has since carried out that threat, arguing in its court filing that the new licences will further harm the environment.

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North Sea drilling: Greenpeace prepares to challenge ‘disastrous’ UK decision

Continue ReadingGreenpeace granted permission to proceed with a Judicial Review of the Government’s decision to launch a new licensing oil and gas round