Keir Starmer slapped down Nigel Farage for his stance on the war in Iran during prime minister’s questions.
In the Commons on Wednesday, Farage asked the prime minister about North Sea drilling in the wake of concern about what impact the Iran conflict could have on energy prices in the UK.
The Clacton MP claimed it was time the country ‘change course’ and “opened up the licenses” to become “self-sufficient on natural gas.”
He argued this would create “thousands of jobs, increased tax revenues, and cheaper gas prices.”
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In response, Starmer said that oil and gas would be part of the UK’s energy strategy “for many, many years.”
He then skewered the Clacton MP for “highlighting the consequences of the war that he said we should rush into.”
Starmer accused Farage of wanting the UK to join America’s war in Iran, quoting Farage as having said it was “perfectly clear that we should support the strikes.”
Comparing his shifting stance on the conflict to that of Kemi Badenoch’s, Starmer continued: “Then, just like the leader of the opposition, he said, ‘oh I got that one wrong.’
“You can’t make mistakes about decisions as serious as going to war, it’s a gross error,” he added.
What the prime minister could also have pointed out to Farage on his point is recent research from the University of Oxford, which completely debunks his argument about the North Sea.
The research found that if the UK was powered entirely by clean energy, households could save as much as £441 annually on their energy bills.
Conversely, maximising oil and gas extraction from the North Sea would only save between £16 and £82 annually per household.