Sir Alok Sharma claimed the Government was not serious about meeting its international commitments on tackling climate change ahead of a crunch vote in the House of Commons. 

MPs will vote today for the first time on the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill which will roll out annual licensing rounds for new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. 

Sir Alok, the former president of the Cop26 climate change summit, said the legislation will “reinforce that unfortunate perception about the UK rowing back from climate action” and as such he will not vote for it. He did not specify if he would abstain or vote against.

The Tory former Cabinet minister told the BBC: “It is actually a smoke and mirrors Bill which frankly changes nothing. The North Sea Transition Authority which is the body that actually grants oil and gas licences can already grant licences when they think it is necessary and the energy department has made pretty clear that in respect of this Bill that will not change. 

“But 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 on some policies and actually not being serious about meeting our international commitments.”

The Government has argued that the Bill is necessary to boost domestic energy security and to ensure a smooth transition to cleaner power.

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