{"id":294162,"date":"2024-01-07T17:19:03","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T16:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=294162"},"modified":"2024-01-07T17:19:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T16:19:05","slug":"chris-skidmore-quits-to-leave-rishi-sunak-facing-another-by-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=294162","title":{"rendered":"Chris Skidmore quits to leave Rishi Sunak facing another by-election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Daniel Martin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former energy minister has quit over Rishi Sunak\u2019s plans to boost\u00a0oil and gas fields in the North Sea<\/a>, ahead of a major Commons battle next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Skidmore<\/a>\u00a0said 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<\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It means the Prime Minister faces yet another difficult by-election. Mr Skidmore\u2019s majority in the seat of Kingswood, in Gloucestershire is 11,220, which looks vulnerable in the wake of recent Labour victories<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a scathing attack on the Government\u2019s green policies<\/a>, he said \u201cthe future will judge harshly\u201d anyone who backs the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which is due before the Commons on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Skidmore said he had to resign because, as a former energy minister, he had signed the UK\u2019s pledge to be net zero by 2050 into law and had also led a government review on how Britain could meet the pledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he could not vote for legislation that \u201cclearly promotes the production of new oil and gas\u201d and would show that the UK is \u201crowing ever further back from its climate commitments\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo fail to act, rather than merely speak out, is to tolerate a status quo that cannot be sustained,\u201d he said in his resignation statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Government\u2019s net zero pledges have been controversial amongst backbenchers, and Mr Sunak has previously faced a major rebellion<\/a> by MPs who opposed quotas on the sales of electric cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Skidmore\u2019s resignation may also thwart the Prime Minister\u2019s attempt to regain the political initiative at the start of\u00a0a general election year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conservatives lost a string of by-elections<\/a> last year, giving Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s chances of entering Number 10 later this year a major boost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

He will also soon face a by-election in Wellingborough, where voters ousted the scandal-hit Peter Bone<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Skidmore\u2019s majority is far less than some of those overturned by Labour and the Liberal Democrats<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is understood that Mr Skidmore applied to chair the climate change committee<\/a>, which advises the Government on green policy \u2013 but, 18 months later, no appointment has been made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A government source said he had turned down meetings with Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary<\/a>, about the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former energy minister has quit over Rishi Sunak\u2019s plans to boost\u00a0oil and gas fields in the North Sea, ahead of a major Commons battle next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":294168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A former energy minister has quit over Rishi Sunak\u2019s plans to boost\u00a0oil and gas fields in the North Sea, ahead of a major Commons battle next week.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691826058,691820154,691821582,691819897,691823415],"class_list":["post-294162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chris-skidmore","tag-conservatives","tag-green-policies","tag-oil-and-gas-fields","tag-u-k-prime-minister-rishi-sunak","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Chris-Skidmore.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1ewy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":271329,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=271329","url_meta":{"origin":294162,"position":0},"title":"Rishi Sunak Grants Hundreds of New Oil and Gas Drilling Licences in Latest Setback for Climate Activists","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Rishi Sunak said it would make \u201cabsolutely no sense\u201d for the U.K. not to take advantage of its domestic fossil fuel resources as he announced hundreds of new oil and gas drilling licences in the latest setback for climate activists.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate alarmism\"","block_context":{"text":"climate alarmism","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-alarmism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/00oilrig-3.png?fit=1200%2C745&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/00oilrig-3.png?fit=1200%2C745&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/00oilrig-3.png?fit=1200%2C745&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/00oilrig-3.png?fit=1200%2C745&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/00oilrig-3.png?fit=1200%2C745&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":294171,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=294171","url_meta":{"origin":294162,"position":1},"title":"Good riddance to Chris Skidmore \u2013 China\u2019s useful idiot","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In Skidmore\u2019s fantasy world, the net zero target is going to create 480,000 green jobs by 2030 and boost the economy by \u00a31 trillion \u2013 figures he trotted out in his review of his own policy commissioned by Liz Truss.","rel":"","context":"In \"China\"","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=china"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIG-73.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIG-73.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIG-73.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIG-73.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":279812,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=279812","url_meta":{"origin":294162,"position":2},"title":"Media Watch: Sunak\u2019s Net Zero climbdown","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/21\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In scaling back many Net Zero policies Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the most radical climate policy decision a UK government has made in years. 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