[Politics] Rishi Sunak defends granting new North Sea oil and gas licences

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the decision to grant 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences.

The UK government has also said it will support a carbon capture project in the north east of Scotland.

Campaigners said that extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea would "send a wrecking ball through the UK's climate commitments".

But Mr Sunak said granting the new licences was "entirely consistent" with net zero commitments.

It comes as the party faces internal divisions over its green policies - such as the review over low-traffic neighbourhoods in England - with some MPs calling for a rethink.

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Mr Sunak confirmed support for the Acorn Project in St Fergus, Aberdeenshire, on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, then later visited the site.

It is one of four carbon capture projects which will share up to £20bn of funding.

Mr Sunak said the announcement would support thousands of jobs across the UK.

He said granting the new oil and gas licences was "the right thing to do".

He said: "Even when we reach net zero in 2050, a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas and domestic gas production has about a quarter or a third of the carbon footprint of imported gas."

The prime minister also said it made "absolutely no sense" to import energy supplies with "two to three times the carbon footprint of what we have got at home".

He said increasing home-grown sources of energy would improve the UK's resilience, create jobs and generate tax revenue to fund public services.

Mr Sunak said the government was determined to transition to net zero in a "proportionate and pragmatic" way.

And he also defended his plans to fly to Scotland as "an efficient use of time for the person running the country" and highlighted investment in new technologies, such as sustainable aviation fuel.

The prime minister said: "If your approach to climate change is to say that no one should go on holiday, no one should go on a plane, I think you are completely and utterly wrong."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-66354478