By Daniel Martin

A former energy minister has quit over Rishi Sunak’s plans to boost oil and gas fields in the North Sea, ahead of a major Commons battle next week.

Chris Skidmore said he was resigning the Tory whip and stepping down as an MP in protest at the legislation, which will allow new oil and gas licences. The Telegraph has the story.

It means the Prime Minister faces yet another difficult by-election. Mr Skidmore’s majority in the seat of Kingswood, in Gloucestershire is 11,220, which looks vulnerable in the wake of recent Labour victories.

In a scathing attack on the Government’s green policies, he said “the future will judge harshly” anyone who backs the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which is due before the Commons on Monday.

Mr Skidmore said he had to resign because, as a former energy minister, he had signed the UK’s pledge to be net zero by 2050 into law and had also led a government review on how Britain could meet the pledge.

He said he could not vote for legislation that “clearly promotes the production of new oil and gas” and would show that the UK is “rowing ever further back from its climate commitments”.

“To fail to act, rather than merely speak out, is to tolerate a status quo that cannot be sustained,” he said in his resignation statement.

The Government’s net zero pledges have been controversial amongst backbenchers, and Mr Sunak has previously faced a major rebellion by MPs who opposed quotas on the sales of electric cars.

Mr Skidmore’s resignation may also thwart the Prime Minister’s attempt to regain the political initiative at the start of a general election year.

The Conservatives lost a string of by-elections last year, giving Sir Keir Starmer’s chances of entering Number 10 later this year a major boost.

The Tories are far behind in the polls, and Mr Sunak was booed during a visit to Stockport, Greater Manchester, on Friday.

He will also soon face a by-election in Wellingborough, where voters ousted the scandal-hit Peter Bone.

Mr Skidmore’s majority is far less than some of those overturned by Labour and the Liberal Democrats last year. However, the Kingswood seat is being abolished at the next election, meaning whoever wins will only hold it for a matter of months.

It is understood that Mr Skidmore applied to chair the climate change committee, which advises the Government on green policy – but, 18 months later, no appointment has been made.

A government source said he had turned down meetings with Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, about the role.

Read the full story here.