Donald Trump has attacked Sir Keir Starmer’s clean energy plan, urging him to open up the North Sea and “get rid of windmills”.
In a social media post the president-elect said the UK was making a mistake by reducing its reliance on oil and gas – an endeavour which puts the UK at odds with his “drill baby drill” pledge.
His comments come after the departure of several energy companies from the North Sea, which are leaving in protest against the government’s decision to increase the windfall tax on oil and gas producers, which will be used to fund renewable energy.
Mr Trump referenced the decision by oil and gas producer Apache to ditch the UK in his post to Truth Social on Friday, saying: “The UK is making a very big mistake. Open up the North Sea. Get rid of windmills!”
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has pledged to achieve clean power by 2030, putting the UK on a potential collision course with Mr Trump who has promised to expand US oil and gas production.
As part of the government’s plan to meet its 2030 clean energy deadline, it has blocked new drilling licences in the North Sea while pushing for more wind and solar power.
Mr Trump on the other hand has described the switch to green energy as a scam and suggested that wind turbines are causing whales to die.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also piled in on the government’s energy policy, responding to Mr Trump’s post saying: “I agree 100 per cent.”
Several oil and gas producers left the North Sea after the chancellor announced plans to increase the windfall tax on oil and gas producers to 38 per cent, and extended it by a further year to 2030.
Initially set at 25 per cent and due to expire in 2025, the Conservatives later raised it to 35 per cent and said it would last until March 2029.
In November 2024, Apache’s parent company APA said that the taxes made drilling in the UK “uneconomic”, saying they plan to exit the North Sea by the end of 2029.
Mr Trump’s social media swipe at UK government policy comes during an explosive row between Elon Musk – a member of the president-elect’s inner circle – and Sir Keir in what has become a turbulent week for relations with the incoming US administration.
Mr Musk, who is set to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration, repeatedly criticised Sir Keir’s handling of historic child abuse in Oldham and suggested the prime minister had failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.
The Tories also piled in on the row, calling for a national inquiry into child grooming, while the health secretary Wes Streeting said Mr Musk’s comments were “misjudged and certainly misinformed”.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has been contacted for comment.
