Octopus founder and government adviser Greg Jackson has urged Labour to \u201cuse what\u2019s available\u201d in the North Sea and rethink its key net zero policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jackson said the county was \u201cstaring down the barrel\u201d of an energy price shock in light of the conflict in the Middle East.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Octopus chief executive<\/a> who is also a member of the industrial strategy advisory council and has shared close ties with key government figures including business secretary Peter Kyle<\/a>, warned \u201ceconomic damage\u201d from the crisis was imminent.\u00a0<\/p>\n He called on the UK government to ditch \u201cwishful thinking\u201d and \u201cideology\u201d in order to keep prices stable and the economy afloat.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGlobal gas prices have doubled since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, and UK wholesale electricity prices are up about 50pc,\u201d Jackson wrote in The Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHikes in energy prices are bad enough, but they feed through to inflation, which in turn raises interest rates, compounding the economic damage.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe should use what\u2019s available from the North Sea. While the price is set globally, there\u2019s no point shipping gas from the other side of the world when we have it here.<\/p>\n Related: No Missiles, No Drones: What Happens When Rare Earths Stop Flowing?<\/a><\/p>\n Jackson also suggested that subsidy costs and \u201cexpensive distractions\u201d including carbon capture and hydrogen projects should be stripped from energy bills.\u00a0<\/p>\n His intervention adds to the pressure on energy secretary Ed Miliband, who has pushed the government into doubling down on net zero efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Calls for North Sea exploration grow<\/p>\n Opposition parties have pledged to remove restrictions on exploration in the North Sea<\/a> while President Trump has pressed Sir Keir Starmer into easing taxes on energy giants operating in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Resolution Foundation warned that should recent rises in oil and gas prices stick, some \u00a3500 could be added onto energy bills later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reeves met executives from North Sea oil giants BP, Serica and TotalEnergies in London to discuss energy price rises<\/a>, fuelling speculation the government could ease regulation on businesses to ease pressures on Britons.\u00a0<\/p>\n