Labour set to approve Jackdaw gasfield, Rosebank oilfield — SkimNews
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- Labour government is expected to approve the Jackdaw gasfield this week, with Rosebank oilfield likely to follow — a move that Monbiot frames as Labour 'spending vast political capital to earn tiny material gains.'
- The Jackdaw gasfield will generate just 27 direct full-time jobs and Rosebank will support 450 UK-based jobs over its lifetime, compared with the UK's net zero economy already employing 300,000 people directly with another 400,000 planned.
- A recent estimate cited by Monbiot suggests the climate damage caused by the fields' extra emissions would outweigh any economic benefits several times over, and Jackdaw's gas would make no significant difference to energy bills or energy security.
- Environment secretary Angela Eagle last week urged Britons to store extra food at home in case of emergencies, which Monbiot cites as evidence the government is serious about neither preventing climate catastrophe nor surviving it — having refused to maintain strategic food reserves.
- Burnham's calculation that approving the fields will placate Reform UK and the Conservatives, or appease Donald Trump, is doomed, Monbiot writes: 'you can't appease Trump. Whatever you give him, he will always want more.'
- The policy could help Green party leader Zack Polanski win the seat Keir Starmer has just vacated, and reflects the kind of anti-left manoeuvre that Monbiot says contributed to Starmer losing the premiership.
- Monbiot concludes that on climate outcomes, the UK government differs little from Trump's: 'Our government is not a doomsday cult... But in terms of outcome, is there much difference?'
Why it matters: Labour is poised to approve Jackdaw (27 jobs) and Rosebank (450 lifetime jobs) while a net-zero sector employing 300,000 already exists and the cited estimate finds climate damages would outweigh economic benefits several times over — a trade-off Monbiot says could push progressive voters to the Greens and weaken the UK's negotiating position in international climate talks.
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