Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Open the White House Watch newspaper for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
Donald Trump has criticized the UK’s plans to withdraw from North Sea oil and gas production in a speech against the incoming US administration of Sir Keir Starmer’s government.
The president-elect said the UK is “making a huge mistake” by opening up the North Sea and “get rid of the windmills” in a matter-of-fact social media post.
It was unclear what prompted the post, which linked to a November article in which U.S. oil producer APA Corp. said it would end North Sea operations by 2029 and warned of higher taxes and environmental regulations. He said.
Apache itself stopped drilling in the North Sea in June 2023, before the Starmer government took office in July last year.
Trump’s quantitative easing is in direct conflict with the Labor government’s cornerstone policies to move the UK away from fossil fuels over the coming years.
The post reflects the incoming US president’s willingness to weigh in on the domestic policies of other countries, a hallmark of his first term in office, which could further strain relations with the UK.
His intervention follows a series of criticisms of the Starmer government by Tesla chief and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was appointed by Trump to lead a new waste management department.
Both men’s posts are likely to fuel concerns in the U.K. that Trump could become a rock in the U.K.’s bid for a second term as president this month.
Starmer has appointed former Labor minister Lord Peter Mandelson as his new ambassador to Washington, while the prime minister and foreign secretary David Lammy have sought to build rapport with Trump and his allies.
The political agreement in UK Fractured over combating climate change, the Conservative Party, which introduced binding 2050 net-zero goals under Theresa May – has aligned itself closely with Trump’s fossil fuel stance.
Tory leader Kimi Baden, a self-proclaimed “net zero sceptic”, recently met with Vice President-elect JD Vance, while Musk urged people to vote for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which he says would eliminate the UK’s net zero emissions. Targets.
Trump wants to increase oil and gas drilling in the US and has said President Joe Biden’s major inflation-reduction legislation would end subsidies for green energy.
The campaign also said it plans to withdraw from the 2015 international Paris Agreement to combat climate change. He did so when he finished his first term in 2020, even though America was joined by Biden months later.
The Starmer government has made divestment from oil and gas a top agenda item, citing the damage fossil fuels are doing to the climate.
He plans to end North Sea licensing for new oil and gas exploration and has increased tax rates on oil and gas producers.
The Starmer administration is instead putting a big push into renewable energy such as wind turbines and solar farms. She wants to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030, a step towards the UK’s wider, legally binding goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions across the economy to zero by 2050.
However, some critics question the wisdom of curtailing oil and gas production for the next 25 years, when both will still be important, even if the rate is reduced as the UK moves towards the 2050 target.
Downing Street declined to comment on Friday, but government officials highlighted Labour’s long-standing position and arguments for its energy policies.
