Two-thirds of Labour voters back approval of Rosebank oil field, survey finds
A survey finds 65 per cent of people who voted Labour in 2024 support developing the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea, which is described as the UK's largest untapped oil field.
A majority of people who backed Labour at the 2024 general election want the Government to approve the Rosebank oil field, according to a new survey. The poll found that 65 per cent of Labour voters from 2024 support development of the field, a finding that puts pressure on ministers as they weigh the project's future.
Rosebank is described as the UK's largest untapped oil field. Its fate has become a politically sensitive question, pitting the Government's climate commitments against arguments about energy security, jobs and the country's domestic oil and gas supply. The survey suggests that the case for development resonates even among voters who supported the party that now governs.
The findings matter because they indicate that support for the project is not confined to opponents of the Government's wider energy direction. For a party whose base has been closely associated with environmental concerns, a clear majority of its 2024 voters favouring approval points to a split in public opinion that ministers will need to take into account.
The survey's details are limited in the material available. It is not clear from the reporting who carried out the poll, how many people took part, or when it was conducted. Nor is there information on the views of the wider public or of voters from other parties, so the result should be read as a snapshot of Labour voters rather than a measure of national opinion as a whole.
Rosebank has been at the centre of a long-running debate over North Sea licensing and whether new fields should be developed as the UK moves towards its net zero targets. Supporters argue that domestic production can reduce reliance on imported oil and gas and protect jobs in the sector. Critics contend that new extraction is incompatible with climate goals and that the emissions it would produce outweigh any economic benefit.
The poll adds a fresh data point to that debate at a time when the Government has yet to make its position on the field fully clear in the reporting available. Whatever the decision, the survey indicates that Labour's own voters are divided from the environmental position many expected them to hold, and that the question will remain a live issue for the party as it balances its priorities on energy policy.
Source: standard.co.uk
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