'Bad business as usual': Chris Packham slams Labour for defending Tory oil licences

CHRIS Packham has said the UK Government is focused on "bad business as usual" amid an ongoing legal battle over 31 new North Sea oil and gas licences.

On Wednesday, campaign group Oceana took the UK Government to court over its decision to grant 31 oil and gas licences – more than two thirds of which are in designated marine protected areas (MPAs).

Oceana, the world's largest ocean conservation campaign group, is arguing that the UK Government failed to assess the environmental risks associated with the licences before making its decision.

The licences were originally issued last May under the former Conservative government but have been defended by the current Labour administration, which has insisted that the applications were subject to a Habitats Regulation Assessment which it claims would have considered the potential for adverse effects on MPAs.

The court case has been backed by Packham, a wildlife TV presenter and conservationist, who joined a protest organised by Oceana outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday morning.

Packham told The National he was “dumbfounded” by the decision to grant the licences and called on the Labour Government to revoke them.

Chris Packham (right) joins campaigners outside the Royal Courts of Justice (Image: PA) Packham said that in its decision to grant the licences, the UK Government failed to take into account the downstream emissions – meaning the emissions caused by burning the fossil fuels after they have been extracted – as well as the impact on marine life.

He added that with Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement being announced on the same day, the Labour Government should have taken the opportunity to invest in renewable energy but that “instead, it’s bad business as usual”.

'This is an opportunity for the Labour Government'

Packham added that the recent quashing of the Rosebank oil field approval at the Court of Session in Edinburgh “sets a precedent” for the UK Government to revoke these licences.

In January, a judge ruled that the decision to grant consent was unlawful because environmental impact assessments did not take into account downstream emissions resulting from the burning of the extracted fuels, ruling that the consent should be “reduced” (quashed) and reconsidered.

Given the Rosebank ruling, Packham said: "How on earth are they going to defend it?"

He continued: “The key thing is they need to reframe the way they see these things.

“Presumably, the reason we’re all standing here this morning is because they see this as a problem.

(Image: PA) “I don’t – I see this as an opportunity for this Government to say it cares about our wildlife, it cares about the fact it has a set of legislation and it needs to uphold the laws that it drafted, and that it sees an opportunity to affect this transition away from our dependence on fossil fuels.”

Packham added: “They could come out of this smelling of roses, certainly not crude oil.

"Who wants to come out of anything at the moment smelling of crude oil?

“The whole wide world knows that we’ve got an issue with it, so this whole ‘drill, baby, drill’ thing isn’t going to last long.”

The UK Government is currently running a consultation on its plans for the North Sea’s energy future, and has insisted it is sticking to its commitment not to issue new licences to explore new fields.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “We are unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”