Sir Keir Starmer has said that a Labour government would not issue further gas and oil licences.
It comes after his party helped clinch Liz Truss’s doom last week with a vote to outlaw fracking. Tory whips transformed it into a confidence vote in the government, and while Ms Truss survived the vote, the pandemonium that followed – with reports of MPs being abused – meant she was gone within 24 hours.
Speaking to LBC this morning, Sir Keir said: “We accept there’s got to be a transition, so where there is oil and gas already being yielded that needs to continue as part of the transition, but no new sites, no new fields to be opened.
“We need to transition to renewables. We can do it … we can double our onshore wind, we can triple our solar energy and we can quadruple our offshore wind – and the sooner we do that, the better.
“I do think that new nuclear, as well, and hydrogen is part of the equation.”
Sir Keir was asked about a number of topics.
He said, “it was a straight no” when asked if the UK would rejoin the EU if Labour took power.
And he said the only way to get people a “sustainable pay rise” is to grow the economy.
Sir Keir said to do this institutions like the OBR and Bank of England need to be respected.
He also said that there was “not a great deal” between Labour and the Conservatives on immigration – although he did say he would scrap the Rwanda scheme.
Sir Keir said: “Now we don’t have free movement anymore, then you either have a pure numbers game or you have a points-based system that says ‘well, for certain types of jobs, certain types of roles here, you would get a number of points. I think that makes sense.
“So, in that sense, not a great deal between the major parties on immigration.
“We would have a slightly different approach and I would particularly want to welcome really good students.”