The Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven MP Chris Ward has asked the Energy Minister whether approval of the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea is “a prelude” to a decision to approve the Rosebank oil and gas field. He put the question in the Commons on Wednesday 21 October 2026, after the government announced it had approved Jackdaw. The exchange is in the official Hansard record.
Decision. The Energy Secretary agreed to Jackdaw going ahead, and the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) granted consent for gas to be produced.
Dates. The decision notice says the Energy Secretary agreed on 14 October 2026 and that consent was granted on 21 October.
Operator. Adura Operations Limited, according to the decision notice.
Gas supply. The minister said the field will start supplying gas as soon as the end of October.
Brighton link. Chris Ward, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, asked about Rosebank and whether MPs will get to debate it.
What was decided
Energy Minister Michael Shanks told MPs that the original consent for Jackdaw, granted in 2022 under the previous government, was judged unlawful and quashed by the courts, because emissions from burning the extracted gas had not been considered. He said the Energy Secretary and the regulator had retaken the decisions with the environmental impacts taken into account, and that the Energy Secretary had decided in favour. The court allowed the developer to continue development at its own risk until a new decision was made, he said, so the field will start supplying gas as soon as the end of the month.
Shanks said the Energy Secretary weighed the expected benefits, including energy security and jobs, against the potential environmental effects, including greenhouse gas emissions, and that the full reasons are in a decision document on gov.uk. He said the project would not stop the UK meeting its legally binding carbon limits and net zero by 2050, and that the UK will still need oil and gas for decades.
He announced a new North Sea energy wealth fund, with an initial £2 billion of capital, which he said would use tax revenue from North Sea oil and gas to invest in net zero projects. He also said the government is looking at removing standing charges on gas bills at the earliest opportunity, and will legislate for transitional energy certificates for existing North Sea fields when parliamentary time allows.
The Speaker opened the session by criticising the government for briefing the media before telling the House, and said it was a discourtesy that the Energy Secretary had not come to the chamber to make the statement.
What Chris Ward asked
Ward said he was concerned about the message the decision sends about how seriously the country takes the climate emergency and its reputation as a world leader on climate change. He said he was even more concerned, as were his constituents, that it was “a prelude” to the bigger decision on Rosebank. He asked the minister to confirm that the climate emergency and international climate commitments would be at the forefront of his mind when that decision is taken, and that MPs would get a chance to debate it.
What the minister said
Shanks said he could not be clearer about how central tackling climate change still is to energy policy. He said the move to a non-fossil-fuel economy will need oil and gas for decades, and that the decision was about where that supply comes from, not about the end goal of reducing exposure to fossil fuels. He said the Energy Secretary will lead the UK delegation to the COP climate summit next month.
On whether MPs would debate Rosebank, he said consenting decisions are regulatory decisions for the Energy Secretary, with the NSTA issuing the consent, and that they are not subject to debates in the House because they are quasi-judicial decisions. He assured Ward that the Rosebank decision, like this one, would be based on a range of factors and that environmental impacts would be “absolutely central”. He did not commit to a debate. The statement did not announce a decision on Rosebank.
Other voices in the Commons
The Conservative shadow energy secretary, Andrew Bowie, welcomed the approval but said it should have come far sooner, and that Jackdaw alone would provide enough resources to heat 1.4 million homes. That figure is Bowie’s claim, and we have not checked it. He urged the government not to ban new licences in the North Sea in its forthcoming energy independence Bill, and asked whether the Chancellor would remove the energy profits levy.
Labour MPs also questioned the minister. Nadia Whittome said the Office for Budget Responsibility expects the North Sea to provide just £100 million a year in tax by 2030, and asked whether approving Jackdaw was a false economy. Shanks agreed the North Sea is a declining basin, and said the decision was compliant with a manifesto commitment to “not issue new licences to explore new fields”, because Jackdaw is on an already licensed field.
What happens next
The minister gave no date for a decision on Rosebank. We will report any further comment from Brighton and Hove’s MPs.
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