Keir Starmer has suggested that his latest conversation with Donald Trump did not involve him telling the US president that he was “fed up” about the effect of American policy on rising UK energy bills. Instead, the prime minister said the call on Thursday night focused on the need for a “practical plan” to open the Strait of Hormuz.
The exchange came amid a broader day of political argument over energy policy, North Sea drilling and online safety, with senior figures across politics weighing in on some of the government’s most difficult decisions.
Blair enters North Sea debate
Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, has joined those urging the government to allow drilling for oil and gas in the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields in the North Sea. Both projects were approved by the previous Conservative government before being overturned by a court ruling.
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, must now decide on the revised applications while acting in a quasi-judicial capacity. That means he has to follow due process and cannot make the decision purely on political grounds.
The debate over energy strategy remains sharply contested. One view is that the government should speed up its Clean Power 2030 plans and focus on decarbonising the electricity system as quickly as possible. The other is that the UK should expand domestic oil and gas production.
Supporters of both positions argue that they are responding to a serious problem, but the underlying challenge remains unresolved. Outside the power sector, the UK economy is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels, while electricity remains too expensive to support large-scale electrification.
The result, according to the argument set out in the discussion, is a “self-reinforcing high-cost, low-electrification trap”. High electricity prices discourage demand for electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial electrification. Because demand then grows more slowly, the fixed costs of the system, including networks and long-term contracts, are spread across a smaller base, which helps keep prices high.
That, in turn, means the economy stays tied to fossil fuels and remains exposed to global shocks.
New online pornography restrictions
Separately, the government has set out new measures designed to tackle harmful pornography online.
The first of the planned measures will ban anyone from possessing or publishing harmful pornography showing incest between family members, as well as sex between step or foster relations where one person is pretending to be under 18. A further amendment will criminalise the publication and possession of pornography in which an adult is roleplaying as a child.
The government said it is “uncompromising” in its mission to protect women and girls online and that it has already taken action to stop tech firms from publishing abusive content.
It also said that in February it instructed platforms to remove reported non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours.
Supporters of the measures welcomed the changes. One statement said the plans would “fully address harmful pornographic content such as incest, step-incest and the mimicking of child sexual abuse”. It added that this content is “freely and widely available online” and is deeply harmful because it normalises child sexual abuse and abusive relationships within families.
Another welcome was offered for the government’s response, with the claim that the UK is once again leading the way on regulating what was described as a high-harm industry.
The developments left ministers facing multiple fronts of pressure: questions over energy prices, the future of North Sea oil and gas, international security linked to the Strait of Hormuz, and the regulation of damaging online material.
