In a stunning intervention that exposes the deepening cracks in Britain’s net-zero dogma, Tara Singh, CEO of RenewableUK – the peak body for the UK wind industry – has publicly urged Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to ramp up North Sea oil and gas production. Writing in The Telegraph on March 16, 2026, Singh called on the government to “take energy out of the culture wars” and produce “more home-grown energy of every kind” because the unfolding crisis in the Middle East (Iran conflict) has left Britain dangerously exposed to foreign supply shocks.
She described supporting domestic oil and gas as “entirely sensible” alongside renewables and nuclear, arguing the UK would be “stronger, safer and less exposed” if it maximised every domestic source. Even she admits the North Sea is a mature basin that can only meet roughly half of UK oil and gas demand by 2050 – but her call for realism is a rare voice of sanity in a department led by Miliband, who has banned new exploration licences and is clinging to an ideological “no new fields” pledge.
This is the same Miliband who continues to resist pressure for more drilling even as global supplies tighten and UK North Sea output collapses. The irony is thick: the wind lobby boss is effectively admitting what critics have said for years – renewables alone cannot secure Britain’s energy future in the real world.UK Energy Costs: Among the Highest on Earth, Driven by Policy and Imports
Britain already pays some of the highest electricity prices in Europe and the developed world, and the situation is getting worse. Government data for the first half of 2025 shows UK industrial electricity prices at 25.33p/kWh – 125% above the EU-14 median and the highest in Europe. Domestic prices are second- or third-highest depending on user size, with medium users at 29.74p/kWh (32.5% above the median).
International comparisons confirm the pain: UK households pay around $0.40/kWh, far above the US or Asian peers, while industrial users face prices four times higher than in America in some analyses. Gas prices are closer to the European average, but because the UK marginal pricing system lets expensive gas set the wholesale electricity price 97-98% of the time (even when renewables hit record shares), bills stay sky-high.
The result?
UK energy is among the most expensive for businesses and households in the Western world – not quite Bermuda or Ireland at the absolute peak, but a clear European leader in unaffordability, hammering manufacturing competitiveness and household budgets.
Massive Imports of Oil Products, Diesel, Jet Fuel and Gas – Self-Inflicted Vulnerability
The UK is no longer self-sufficient. North Sea production has been in long-term decline (peaking in 1999), accelerated by Labour’s policies, and the country now imports roughly 44% of its energy needs. Crude oil comes mainly from the US and Norway, but refined products tell the real story:The UK exports surplus petrol but heavily imports diesel and jet fuel to meet demand imbalances.
Jet fuel reliance is especially acute; domestic refining cannot keep up.
Natural gas imports (via Norway pipelines and LNG from the US, Qatar, and others) make up about half of the supply, with LNG volumes surging in recent years amid European shortages.
Recent ONS trade data shows ongoing fuel import pressures even as overall goods imports dipped slightly in early 2026. The Middle East turmoil is already spiking global prices – exactly the vulnerability Singh warned about.
Refinery Closures: Britain Is Becoming the New California
The situation mirrors California’s disastrous path. UK refining capacity has plummeted. Scotland’s historic Grangemouth refinery (150,000 b/d) ceased crude processing in April 2025 and is now an import terminal. Lindsey refinery (108,000 b/d) followed in August 2025. Only four major sites remain: Fawley, Humber, Pembroke and Stanlow – down from 18 in the 1970s.
These closures have forced higher imports of finished fuels (up 4% in some quarters), reduced domestic crude processing by 40% in places, and left Britain more exposed to global shocks and tanker delays. Jobs have vanished (hundreds at each site), and the economic contribution (Grangemouth alone was £400m+ annually) is gone.
California is doing the exact same thing: closing refineries (Phillips 66 LA and others removing ~17-20% of state capacity), importing more foreign gasoline and jet fuel, and suffering extreme price volatility and higher costs. Experts there warn of $8/gallon gasoline and rationing risks during disruptions. Britain is on the same trajectory – policy-driven de-industrialisation of refining has turned a once self-reliant sector into an import-dependent liability.
Is There Any Hope of Turning It Around?
Short answer: not under the current Labour approach. Miliband’s North Sea strategy bans new exploration licences, allows only limited “tiebacks” on existing fields, and accelerates the decline. Spending has collapsed from £35bn+ a year (2015) to £15bn (2023); jobs have halved once and are forecast to halve again. Tax receipts are plunging. Even industry forecasts show the basin winding down rapidly.
Restarting meaningful drilling would require a U-turn on licences, scrapping the windfall tax distortions, and ending the ideological blockade. Singh’s call shows even the renewables sector sees the need for pragmatic domestic fossil production in the interim. But Miliband has repeatedly dismissed drilling as “totally false” for lowering bills and is doubling down on net-zero timelines.
Like California, once refineries and infrastructure are shuttered and supply chains reoriented to imports, reversal is slow, expensive and politically toxic. Britain risks permanent higher costs, greater import dependence and energy insecurity – unless sanity prevails and “home-grown energy of every kind” actually becomes policy.
The wind chief’s plea is a rare crack in the green consensus. Whether Miliband listens – or continues sacrificing British energy security on the altar of ideology – will define the next decade of bills, jobs and blackouts. For now, the only sane voice in the energy department appears to be… the wind boss.
Sources: theguardian.com, energynewsbeat.co, spglobal.com
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