Tory MP Chris Skidmore quits in protest at climate policy
Chris Skidmore's resignation is not the start Rishi Sunak would have wanted to the New Year, ITV News' Political Correspondent Shehab Khan says
Rishi Sunak faces another by-election challenge as former energy minister Chris Skidmore is poised to resign as a Conservative MP over legislation to boost North Sea oil and gas drilling.
Mr Skidmore, who led a Government review of net zero, announced on Friday that he would stand down, with a scathing attack on the prime minister’s environmental stance.
In a lengthy statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, the MP for Kingswood, in Gloucestershire, said: “Next week the Government will be introducing the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill in the House of Commons.
“This Bill would in effect allow more frequent new oil and gas licences and the increased production of new fossil fuels in the North Sea.
"It is a Bill that I have already stated my opposition to, by not voting in the King’s Speech debate in protest at the Bill’s inclusion in the Government’s legislative programme.
“As the former energy minister who signed the UK’s net zero commitment by 2050 into law, I cannot vote for a Bill that clearly promotes the production of new oil and gas.”
He went on: “To fail to act, rather than merely speak out, is to tolerate a status quo that cannot be sustained. I am therefore resigning my party whip and instead intend to be free from any party-political allegiance.”
Mr Skidmore added that his decision to resign the whip meant his constituents “deserve the right to elect a new Member of Parliament”.
He said: “I therefore will be standing down from Parliament as soon as possible.”
Mr Skidmore confirmed to the PA news agency that he would quit “next week when Parliament is back”, with the Commons still on its Christmas recess until Monday.
He has held Kingswood since 2010, beating second-placed Labour by 11,220 votes at the last general election.
That margin is far smaller than in the last two by-election upsets Labour handed to the Tories, when a 24,664 vote majority was overturned in Mid Bedfordshire and 19,634 in Tamworth.
Mr Sunak already faces having to defend Wellingborough after voters ousted scandal-hit Peter Bone.
Announcing his resignation, Mr Skidmore said: “As the former energy minister who signed the UK’s net zero commitment by 2050 into law, I cannot vote for a Bill that clearly promotes the production of new oil and gas.
“To fail to act, rather than merely speak out, is to tolerate a status quo that cannot be sustained.
“At a time when we should be committing to more climate action, we simply do not have any more time to waste promoting the future production of fossil fuels that is the ultimate cause of the environmental crisis that we are facing.”
The Bill would mandate that licences for oil and gas projects in the North Sea are awarded annually, and was seen as a challenge to Labour, which said it would ban new exploration licences to focus on renewables.
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