Prime minister Keir Starmer has suggested he did not tell Donald Trump he was “fed up” about the US president’s impact on rising UK energy bills, saying instead that their conversation on Thursday night focused on the need for a “practical plan” to open the Strait of Hormuz.
The exchange comes amid a broader and increasingly difficult debate over UK energy policy, with ministers under pressure from different directions over the future of North Sea oil and gas, the pace of decarbonisation and the cost of electricity.
Pressure over North Sea decisions
Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, has joined those arguing that the government should allow drilling for oil and gas in the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields in the North Sea.
Both projects had been approved by the previous Conservative government before being overturned by a court ruling. The final decision now rests with energy secretary Ed Miliband, who must consider revised applications in a quasi-judicial role. That means he is required to follow due process and cannot decide the matter purely on political grounds.
The arguments over Rosebank and Jackdaw reflect a wider split over how Britain should respond to high energy costs and the transition away from fossil fuels. One view is that the answer lies in speeding up Clean Power 2030 and decarbonising the electricity system as fast as possible. Another is that the country should expand domestic oil and gas production.
But critics of both positions say neither gets to the heart of the problem. The UK economy outside the power sector still depends heavily on fossil fuels, while electricity remains too expensive to make widespread electrification attractive.
As one assessment of the situation put it, the UK is locked in a self-reinforcing cycle of high costs and low electrification. Expensive electricity discourages demand for electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial electrification. That weak demand then leaves the fixed costs of the system — including networks and long-term contracts — spread over a smaller base, which keeps prices elevated.
The consequence is a system that remains too costly to electrify and therefore continues to rely on fossil fuels while staying vulnerable to global shocks.
Government moves on harmful pornography
Separately, the government is preparing new measures aimed at harmful online pornography. The first will ban anyone from possessing or publishing material that depicts 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 has already acted to stop tech firms from publishing abusive content.
In February, ministers told platforms they must remove reported non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours.
Supporters of the new measures have welcomed the planned crackdown, saying it will help address harmful pornographic content such as incest, step-incest and material mimicking child sexual abuse. They argue that such content, which is widely available online, can normalise child sexual abuse and abusive relationships within families.
“Today the government has answered our calls for change,” one supporter said, adding that the UK is once again leading the way in regulating what was described as a high-harm industry.
The latest developments leave the prime minister facing several overlapping political pressures: international energy security, domestic electricity prices, North Sea drilling and the government’s efforts to tighten online safety rules. The next stage of the debate will likely be shaped by how ministers balance those priorities against legal obligations and political expectations.
