Government Denies Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill Is "Smoke And Mirrors"

The government has defended its Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill in the face of ardent opposition from some of its own MPs and peers, in the latest row exposing divisions within the Conservative Party.

MPs will get their first chance to vote on the government’s controversial Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill on Monday. If passed, the Bill initiates an annual process inviting applications for new offshore oil and gas production licences in the North Sea.

Some senior Conservative figures have already expressed their intention to rebel, with a few of them among 30 cross-party MPs and peers who wrote to the energy security secretary over the weekend asking her "in the strongest possible terms to withdraw" the Bill, calling it a “piece of political theatre”.

However, a large-scale rebellion is not expected in the chamber, with most Conservative MPs – who form a large majority in the Commons – likely to back the government.

The legislation triggered former Energy Minister Chris Skidmore to announce his imminent resignation as a Conservative MP, publishing a statement on Friday in which he said the “future will judge harshly” those who vote through the legislation in Parliament.

Former COP26 President and Conservative MP Alok Sharma told BBC Radio 4 on Monday morning that he would also not vote for the Bill and that the legislation was "smoke and mirrors".

“As it is currently drafted, this bill is a total distraction… it is a smoke and mirrors bill which, frankly, changes nothing," he said.

“What this Bill does do is reinforce that unfortunate perception about the UK rowing back from climate action.

“We saw this last autumn with the chopping and changing of some policies and actually not being serious about our international