Former energy minister to quit as Tory MP over bill that 'promotes production of new oil and gas'

A former energy minister has said he will resign the Conservative whip and stand down as an MP over new legislation "that promotes the production of new oil and gas".

Chris Skidmore has said he will quit when parliament returns next week over the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill.

Mr Skidmore had already announced his intention to stand down at the General Election, but bringing this forward will trigger a by-election in his Kingswood constituency in Gloucestershire.

That seat is being abolished at the election in constituency boundary changes, meaning whoever takes his place could be an MP only for a matter of months, with Rishi Sunak expected to go to the polls in the second half of this year.

Announcing his decision on social media, Mr Skidmore said: "The bill would in effect allow more frequent new oil and gas licences and the increased production of new fossil fuels in the North Sea.

"I can no longer stand by. The climate crisis that we face is too important to politicise or to ignore."

The Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill will allow oil and gas companies to bid for new licences to drill for fossil fuels every year.

Mr Skidmore warned MPs who vote for it next week that the future will judge them "harshly".

His statement went on: "It is a tragedy that the UK has been allowed to lose its climate leadership, at a time when our businesses, industries, universities and civil society organisations are providing first-class leadership and expertise to so many across the world, inspiring change for the better.

"I cannot vote for the bill next week. The future will judge harshly those that do. At a time when we should be committing to more climate action, we simply do not have any more time to waste promoting the future production of fossil fuels that is the ultimate cause of the environmental crisis that we are facing."

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