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Former Tory minister Chris Skidmore is quitting as an MP in protest at the UK government’s plans to drill for more North Sea oil, in a move that leaves the Conservatives facing another difficult by-election.
Skidmore, who had already announced that he would not stand in the next election, said he was now quitting “as soon as possible” as MP for Kingswood in Gloucestershire and leaving the Tory party.
In his resignation letter he said it was “a tragedy that the UK has been allowed to lose its climate leadership” under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Last summer, Sunak edged away from some crucial climate commitments by delaying plans to phase out sales of gas boilers and impose curbs on petrol and diesel cars, although he pledged to keep the wider 2050 Net Zero target.
Skidmore said he was quitting in protest at the government’s Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which will be introduced in the House of Commons next week. The legislation requires the North Sea regulator to hold annual licensing rounds for drilling for oil and gas.
“I cannot vote for the bill next week. The future will judge harshly those that do.”
Skidmore, who was energy minister when the British government signed its 2050 commitment into law, led a report into net zero for the government that was published in January 2023.
In his resignation letter he said the new law would send a “global signal that the UK is rowing ever further back from its climate commitments”.
There was no case for increasing fossil fuel production at a time when there was “exponential” growth occurring in renewable and clean power, he argued.
Skidmore added that he could no longer “condone” the government as it edged away from its previous climate policies.
“To fail to act, rather than merely speak out, is to tolerate a status quo that cannot be sustained. I am therefore resigning my party whip and instead intend to be free from any party-political allegiance,” he said.
Skidmore’s move creates a fresh headache for Sunak, whose party is around 18 points behind Labour with a general election just months away.
The prime minister is already facing a by-election in the constituency of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire after former Conservative MP Peter Bone was found by a parliamentary watchdog to have bullied an employee and committed indecent exposure.
Bone won in Wellingborough in 2019 with an 18,540 majority, but Labour has hopes of victory in what would normally be regarded as a safe Tory seat.
Skidmore was first elected in Kingswood in 2010 after the seat had been held by Labour for 18 years. He was re-elected in 2019 with a majority of 11,220.
However the seat will disappear at the next election as part of a big shake-up to constituency boundaries, so whoever replaces Skidmore will only serve for a number of months.
There have been six by-elections since the beginning of last July, but the Tories have only held one seat, with Labour making gains in four and the Liberal Democrats in one.
On Saturday Jeremy Hunt, chancellor, said Skidmore was “just wrong” in claiming the government’s plan to expand North Sea oil and gas licensing was bad for the environment.
“I do profoundly disagree with the reasons he gave for resigning,” Hunt told the BBC, arguing that Britain would still be using fossil fuels even after it reached its net zero targets in 2050.
He claimed that domestic oil and gas was “four times cleaner” than shipping imported fossil fuels from across the world. Hunt also claimed that recent shipping disruption in the Red Sea made the case for more drilling in the North Sea.
“It’s very important for energy security that we have domestic sources of that kind of energy as we go into transition,” he said.
Labour’s shadow climate and net zero secretary Ed Miliband congratulated Skidmore for “standing up to this desperate Conservative government”.
“Their irresponsible, reckless attempt to double down on fossil fuels won’t cut bills, undermines energy security and is a climate disaster,” he wrote on social media platform X.
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