Labour MP Henry Tufnell backs North Sea drilling and pragmatic carbon taxes

Labour MP Henry Tufnell has backed more domestic North Sea oil and gas production and a more pragmatic approach to carbon taxes. He argued that the current approach risks harming British industry and pushing emissions overseas.

In a broadcast interview, the MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire said increased domestic production could have a net climate benefit. He argued that relying on foreign jurisdictions with lower environmental standards and less regulation can lead to higher emissions. Producing more at home, he said, is better in the global fight against climate change.

Tufnell, a member of the new industry first group of Labour backbenchers, said oil and gas will play a large role in the future energy mix. He said the government must be pragmatic and put British industry at the heart of the economy if it wants growth. The interviewer put it to him that his stance may not go down well with green-minded Labour backbenchers.

He pointed to a series of pressures on UK industry:

• Nearly 400 industrial sites have closed in the last five years.
• Chemical production has fallen by 60 per cent since 2021.
• Cement production is at its lowest level since the 1950s.

Tufnell said these figures should be alarm bells. He also highlighted the energy role of his constituency. The Pembroke oil refinery produces 14 per cent of the UK's transport fuels, he said, and nearly 25 per cent of the UK's energy comes through the port of Milford Haven. He said Pembrokeshire has powered Britain for generations and should continue to do so.

He welcomed the new prime minister's reindustrialisation agenda and said it showed the government was heading in a direction that recognises areas such as his. He also called for a pragmatic approach to carbon taxes to prevent offshoring emissions and losing more British manufacturing and industrial capacity.

The interview touched on whether the Department for Energy and Net Zero is listening and whether it remains dogmatic. The exchange came ahead of the Budget on 28 October, with suggestions that the government may take a more pragmatic line.