Reeves on Jeremy Vine1 Apr 2026 16:04
Rachel Reeves has backed drilling in the North Sea in a move set to fuel tensions with Ed Miliband.
The Chancellor said she would be “very happy” to see drilling at two proposed new oil fields because of the positive impact on “jobs and tax revenue”.
Mr Miliband, who has previously ruled out new exploration, is poised to decide on licences for the Rosebank oil field and Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.
The Chancellor said the Government had already removed restrictions on drilling adjacent fields.
Asked by BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine if she liked drilling in the North Sea, she said: “I’m very happy that we are.”
Her comments came as Donald Trump suggested Iran had asked for a ceasefire, which he would only approve if the Strait of Hormuz was reopened.
Motorists have been hit with higher petrol and diesel prices as a result of the Middle East war, which has pushed up the price of oil.
Ms Reeves added: “If we’re going to get ourselves off of this roller coaster of gas and oil prices, of course, we want to move to something what we have control over.
“And even if we drilled every bit of oil and gas out of the North Sea, we wouldn’t be able to set the price of it – and it’s the price that’s going up at the moment – it wouldn’t affect the price of the pumps.
“But it would, of course, create jobs and tax revenue, and that is why, exactly, we continue to support oil and gas for decades to come.
“But this is an important point, because we had Russia invading Ukraine, and that disrupted and we put sanctions on Russia, rightly so.
“We have now got the disruption in the Middle East, and it’s hard to get the oil and gas out of the Strait of Hormuz, which is pushing up prices. It does show that we have got to take control of our own energy supplies here in Britain.”
Sign In
Follow the stocks
