Business
Tories pledge to get ‘all our oil and gas out of the North Sea’
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party will remove all net zero requirements on oil and gas companies drilling in the North Sea if elected.
Badenoch is to formally announce the plan to focus solely on “maximising extraction” and to get “all our oil and gas out of the North Sea” in a speech in Aberdeen on Tuesday.
Reform UK has said it wants more fossil fuels extracted from the North Sea.
The Labour government has committed to banning new exploration licences. A spokesperson said a “fair and orderly transition” away from oil and gas would “drive growth”.
Exploring new fields would “not take a penny off bills” or improve energy security and would “only accelerate the worsening climate crisis”, the government spokesperson warned.
Badenoch signalled a significant change in Conservative climate policy when she announced earlier this year that reaching net zero would be “impossible” by 2050.
Successive UK governments have pledged to reach the target by 2050 and it was written into law by Theresa May in 2019. It means the UK must cut carbon emissions until it removes as much as it produces, in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Now Badenoch has said that requirements to work towards net zero are a burden on oil and gas producers in the North Sea which are damaging the economy and which she would remove.
The Tory leader said a Conservative government would scrap the need to reduce emissions or to work on technologies such as carbon storage.
Badenoch said it was “absurd” the UK was leaving “vital resources untapped” while “neighbours like Norway extracted them from the same sea bed”.
Her plan echoes US President Donald Trump’s pledge to “drill, baby, drill” and embark on new oil and gas exploration. It is a reversal of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which channelled billions of dollars into clean energy.
In 2023, then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak granted 100 new licences to drill in the North Sea which he said at the time was “entirely consistent” with net zero commitments.
Since then, major energy companies such as BP have U-turned on the level of investment in renewables to focus on increasing oil and gas production in order to boost profitability.
Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, a research and campaign group, said Badenoch’s plan was “reckless” and would not “bring down energy bills”.
“These rules are the bare minimum to needed hold the industry to account, and removing them will simply mean more emissions, more environmental harm and more handouts to oil and gas giants at the nation’s expense,” she said.
Reform UK has said it will abolish the push for net zero if elected.
The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have been contacted for comment.
Research shows that 2024 was the first calendar year where the average temperature exceeded 1.5°C.
This made it the hottest year since records began in 1850, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which is managed by the European Commission and uses data from the European Union’s space programme.
The UK was one of 200 countries to sign the Paris Agreement who agreed to “pursue efforts” to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C and keep them “well below” 2.0C above those recorded in pre-industrial times.
The current government said it had made the “biggest ever investment in offshore wind and three first of a kind carbon capture and storage clusters”.
Carbon capture and storage facilities aim to prevent carbon dioxide (CO2) produced from industrial processes and power stations from being released into the atmosphere.
Most of the CO2 produced is captured, transported and then stored deep underground.
It is seen by the likes of the International Energy Agency and the Climate Change Committee as a key element in meeting targets to cut the greenhouse gases driving dangerous climate change.
Greggs is to shed light on demand from customers as the high street bakery chain contends with the rise of weight loss treatments and cost of living pressures on shoppers.
The high street chain is also wrestling with other factors including increases to labour costs and tax changes.
As a result, on Tuesday March 3, Greggs is expected to reveal pre-tax profits of around £173 million for the year to December 27, representing a 9% drop.
In its previous update shortly after Christmas, Greggs pointed to a strong finish to 2025 as sales growth accelerated in the final quarter of the year.
Like-for-like sales growth rose from 1.5% in the third quarter to 2.9% in the final months of 2025.
Totals sales were up 7.4% in the final quarter amid a boost from the group’s continued store opening programme.
The company opened 121 stores last year.
However, analysts at Deutsche Bank said expectations “have already been set low” for 2026 and are “unlikely to change”.
In January, Greggs said it was “cautious but hopeful” about its outlook for 2026, highlighting “subdued” consumer confidence.
Roisin Currie, chief executive of Greggs, also warned alongside its previous update that there was “no doubt” appetite-suppressing medication is having an impact on the bakery chain’s business.
It may provide more detail on how this continues to change customer eating habits.
Meanwhile, the group also announced that inflation was likely to be shallower than last year.
The group increased the price on a number of products and deals last year, so shareholders will also be keen to see how these changes have continued to impact trading.
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Investors are keen to hear how 2026 is shaping up in the early months.
“While the picture on the cost front is beginning to look more favourable, Greggs has plenty of other challenges still to wrestle with.
“Unhelpful changes to tax rules and minimum wages, slowing UK economic growth, and cost-conscious consumers are all weighing on the outlook.”
Yorkshire Cat Rescue in Haworth says it paid £282,000 in vet bills in 2025 and rescued 925 animals.
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Ashish Chauhan confirms National Stock Exchange will list its IPO on Bombay Stock Exchange, as Indian regulations bar self-listing.
The NSE operates the world’s busiest derivatives market by number of contracts traded.
The National Stock Exchange will look at other prominent exchanges like Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to list its upcoming IPO when it goes public. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ashish Chauhan told ANI that Indian regulations prohibit the exchange from self-listing.
The NSE operates the world’s busiest derivatives market by number of contracts traded.
Regulatory Framework Bars Self-Listing
Chauhan said Indian regulations prohibit a stock exchange from regulating and listing itself, requiring it to seek admission on another recognised platform. “It’s a regulation of India, and we have to abide by that,” he told ANI.
The comments follow the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) no-objection certificate, which clears a key hurdle for the exchange’s long-pending initial public offering (IPO). Chauhan confirmed that the NSE would pursue listing on an alternative exchange such as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Under India’s regulatory framework, exchanges cannot list on their own trading platforms due to conflict-of-interest concerns. Chauhan noted that while some global exchanges, such as Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), are listed on their own platforms, India’s rules do not permit such arrangements.
Offer For Sale Structure And Timeline
Chauhan said the IPO would be structured entirely as an Offer for Sale (OFS), with no fresh capital raised. “We are not going to raise money for ourselves,” he told ANI, adding that existing shareholders would be invited to indicate their interest in selling shares.
The exchange, which has nearly 195,000 shareholders collectively owning 100 percent of the company, will take a few months to prepare and file its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP). SEBI will then review the document before granting further clearance.
On valuation estimates of around USD 50 billion circulating in the market, Chauhan advised caution. Pricing, he said, would be determined closer to launch, based on financial performance, industry comparables, growth trends, and broader economic and geopolitical conditions. Merchant bankers appointed to the issue will advise the IPO committee on the offer price.
Transparency, Governance, And SME Inclusion
Chauhan described the IPO as procedural, aimed at providing liquidity to shareholders rather than funding expansion, noting that the exchange remains profitable.
He said public listing enhances transparency and governance through wider ownership and real-time disclosure requirements. Citing the example of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), he said governance standards improved following its listing.
In the same interview, Chauhan said India has positioned itself as a cost-effective and inclusive capital market, particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He contrasted domestic listing costs with those in developed markets such as the United States, where expenses can range between USD 20 million and USD 30 million.
“In India, people are raising USD 1–2 million also. So how much they are spending is probably 5 to 10 per cent of that money to list,” he told ANI, adding that India’s ecosystem of merchant bankers, legal advisers and compliance professionals supports SME participation.
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March 01, 2026, 09:10 IST
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