the way things are looking they wont open up the North Sea, then they will drive down imports of hydrocarbons to achieve the impossible net zero.
How could this possibly help? The government doesn't own the oil, it is extracted by private companies and sold on the world market. Imagining that somehow they would sell it for less to the UK is hopelessly optimistic.
I suppose we could decide that the best thing to do would be to maintain control over our own energy assets by nationalising the oil companies operating in UK waters, but I can't see that ending well, the Iranians tried it in 1951 and look what happened to them.
Expanding our Green industries and reducing our dependence on oil controlled by extra-national bodies seems like an excellent strategy for energy independence to me.
