Laura Kyrke-Smith

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. The wider context of the Rosebank decision is clear and cannot be stated firmly enough. The route to a clean, secure and affordable future lies in renewable energy, not in more drilling of oil and gas. I commend the Government’s work on driving the renewables transition so far, but on Rosebank, I will focus my point on energy security. If I thought there was an argument that Rosebank would boost our energy security, I would take that seriously. The threats to our wider security and way of life from Russia, Iran and others are severe, and if we fail to keep ourselves safe, we will undermine all the societal, economic and environmental progress that we want to see at home. However, I do not see the energy security case for Rosebank. In the short term, it will not boost our domestic energy production, as 90% of its reserves are oil, not gas, and are likely to be exported. In the long term, it will drive up emissions and increase the very real security threats caused by climate change, from pressure on food systems to increased migration. Frankly speaking, we are on a hiding to nothing to say that in a global context, the emissions from Rosebank are low and dwarfed by emissions from China or elsewhere. That does not absolve us of our responsibilities to do our bit to protect our planet. I would like to thank the many residents who have been in touch with their concerns ahead of this debate. I will quote one resident who summed it up nicely: “My main concern is the future we’re leaving for our children. As a mum…I want to feel that we’re actually making progress and doing everything we can to limit the impact of climate change for future generations.” I worry increasingly about this issue. As we know, the final decision on Rosebank rests with the Secretary of State. She will be privy to legal advice that I have not seen, but for me the question is whether Rosebank supports that transition to a clean, secure and affordable future for ourselves and our planet. I am not convinced that the answer is yes.