Amy Nicholass, lead candidate for the Green Party in Ceredigion Penfro, has criticisesd calls to lift the North Sea oil drilling ban - slamming South Pembrokeshire Labour MP Henry Tufnell’s comments this week, as ‘utterly irresponsible’.

Mr Tufnell said this week, that Britain must scrap ‘woke ideology’ and ‘embrace energy sovereignty’ to save struggling families and revive industry.

It is more than 50 years ago that the nation suffered a major oil crisis because of war in the Middle East. The Green Party came into existence then and has been arguing ever since for a sensible transition to renewable energy and home insulation, all things to stop our addiction to oil.

Amy Nicholass, Lead Candidate for the Green Party in Ceredigion Penfro, remarked: “The main reason I am standing for the Green Party is that I feel one Government after another at Westminster and the Senedd have let down my generation and those that come after me.

“I'm absolutely fuming that despite huge amounts of evidence that climate chaos is here already, and is only going to get worse, leading to unnecessary suffering around the world, we have politicians, whose main job is to keep us safe, openly calling for a lifting of the ban on North Sea oil drilling. This is utterly irresponsible behaviour.”

Amy is referring to MP for South Pembrokeshire, Tufnell who this week stated that: “The road to net zero is through oil and gas.”

Mr Tufnell said: “Pembrokeshire powers Britain. We must do more for our county and our country to guarantee our energy security and protect hardworking families.

“We have the resources and standards to produce our own energy, support industry, and secure our future.

“Rural communities in Pembrokeshire, whom I serve as Member of Parliament, suffer disproportionately because many are often off-grid and rely heavily on heating oil.

“The Chancellor and Energy Secretary deserve credit for acting swiftly and decisively with financial support and market intervention to support families on top of the wider £150 off energy bills.

“However, in the face of further geo-political turmoil now is the time to alter our approach to energy to protect families.

“While hard working families suffer, our economy is flatlining and exposed.Economic growth is minimal and our debt is mounting.

“Drilling in the North Sea and scrapping carbon taxes on British manufacturing would kickstart economic growth, tackle unemployment, and economic inactivity in some of the poorest areas of our country as well as prevent further deindustrialisation.

“Offshoring our carbon emissions might give some a sense of moral superiority or perhaps relief from guilt, but the fight against climate change is global.

“Importing oil and gas from foreign facilities that are less carbon-efficient and require long-distance shipping is simply displacing the problem elsewhere and impoverishing our own communities.

“Pragmatism and realism must win through – drilling in the North-Sea would be a boon for tax revenue while British manufacturing would become competitive again and prevent corrosive deindustrialisation.

“The difference between an unjust or just energy transition for my community is the difference between poverty and aspiration.

“Pembrokeshire is home to one of the UK’s last four oil refineries, which employs around 1,000 workers.

“If our refinery closes due to oppressive green levies, we will lose the heart of our community.

“Generations of expertise will disappear and opportunities for a just transition to renewable energy will be lost as the skill base moves elsewhere. Similar community stories are numerous on the shores of the North-Sea.

“The Labour Party is the party of industry and the unions. We were created in the fire of the industrial revolution. Now is the time to act like it,” he added.

In response to Mr Tufnell’s comments, the Green Party stated that such ‘an oxymoron does not go down well’ with those who have been campaigning for a ‘just transition away from fossil fuels that are causing our climate chaos in the first place’.

Ms Nicholass added: “We need to help people working in the fossil fuel industry move with the times to cutting edge, greener, purposeful jobs as soon as possible, not double down our commitment to an industry that is losing its relevance.”