LONDON — British students will once again be able to take part in the EU’s Erasmus+ exchange scheme from January 2027 — following a six-year hiatus due to Brexit. U.K. ministers say they have secured a 30 percent discount on payments to re-enter the program that strikes “a fair balance between our contribution and the benefits” it offers. The move is one of the first tangible changes out of Keir Starmer’s EU “reset,” which is designed to smooth the harder edges off Boris Johnson’s Brexit settlement while staying outside the bloc’s orbit. In an announcement on Wednesday Brussels and London also confirmed they were formally beginning negotiations on U.K. re-entry into the EU’s internal market for electricity. Both sides hope the move, which was called for by industry in both sides of the Channel, will cut energy bills while also making it easier to invest in North Sea green energy projects — which have been plagued by Brexit complications. They also pledged to finish ongoing talks on linking the U.K. and EU carbon trading systems, as well as a new food and drink (SPS) deal, by the time they meet for an EU-U.K. summit in 2026. The planned meeting, which will take place in Brussels, does not yet have a date but is expected around the same time as this year’s May gathering in London. The announcements give more forward momentum to the “reset,” which faltered earlier this month after failing to reach an agreement on British membership of an EU defense industry financing program, SAFE. The two sides could not agree on the appropriate level of U.K. financial contribution. The pledge to finalize carbon trading (ETS) linkage next year is significant because it will help British businesses avoid a new EU carbon border tax — CBAM — which starts from Jan. 1 2026. While the tax, which charges firms for the greenhouse gas emissions in their products, begins on Jan. 1, payments are not due until 2027, by which time the U.K. is expected to be exempt. But it is not yet clear whether British firms will have to make back payments on previous imports once the deal is secured, and there is no sign of any deal to bridge the gap. WIDENING HORIZONS EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, who negotiated the agreement, said the move was “a huge win for our young people” and would break down barriers and widen horizons so that “everyone, from every background, has the opportunity to study and train abroad.” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola welcomes British Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds. | Ronald Wittek/EPA “This is about more than just travel: it’s about future skills, academic success, and giving the next generation access to the best possible opportunities,” he said. “Today’s agreements prove that our new partnership with the EU is working. We have focused on the public’s priorities and secured a deal that puts opportunity first.” The expected cost of the U.K.’s membership of the Erasmus+ program in 2027 will be £570 million. Skills Minister Jacqui Smith said Erasmus+ membership is “about breaking down barriers to opportunity, giving learners the chance to build skills, confidence and international experience that employers value.” Liberal Democrat Universities Spokesperson Ian Sollom also welcomed U.K. re-entry into the exchange scheme but said it should be a “first step” in a closer relationship with the EU. “This is a moment of real opportunity and a clear step towards repairing the disastrous Conservative Brexit deal,” he said. “However while this is a welcome breakthrough, it must be viewed as a crucial first step on a clear roadmap to a closer relationship with Europe. Starting with negotiating a bespoke UK-EU customs union, and committing to a youth mobility scheme for benefit of the next generation.”

LONDON — Keir Starmer loves to play the climate leader. But only when his political advisers (and the powerful Chancellor Rachel Reeves) tell him he’s allowed. The green-minded U.K. prime minister flies into the COP30 summit in Brazil Thursday, armed with undeniable climate credentials. His government is pressing ahead with a 2050 net zero target, even as right-wing political rivals at home run away from it. It is about to hand 20-year contracts, laden with financial guarantees, to companies developing offshore wind farms. Just by attending COP, Starmer has shown he’s willing to publicly back the faltering global climate cause, despite furious attacks on the green agenda by close ally Donald Trump. But his claim to global leadership comes with a catch. Action on climate change is also tied to the political agenda back home, where Starmer and Reeves insist they are focused on bringing down bills and driving economic growth. As the prime minister flies in and out of Brazil this week, those key themes dominate. In a speech on Tuesday, Reeves pledged to “bear down” on the national debt and focus on the cost of living — even it requires “hard choices” elsewhere. Climate is no exception. SHY GREEN It was Starmer’s “personal decision” to go to Brazil, U.K. Climate Minister Katie White told a pre-COP event in London on Tuesday. It was reported in the run-up to the summit that he would skip Brazil, amid concerns among his top political aides about the optics of a jaunt to South America to talk climate while voters — disillusioned with Starmer and Labour — struggle with the cost of living at home and brace for tax rises expected in the budget. In the end, Starmer opted to go. But the absence of a full traveling press delegation, the norm at previous COPs, means his visit will generate less media coverage. (Government officials insisted the decision not to take a full press pack was purely logistical.) Starmer, while not an expert, is instinctively supportive of climate action, said one government official. But not so much so, countered a Labour MP, that he has “his own ideas about things.” “He wants to do the right thing, but would be steered as to whether that’s talking about forests or clean power or whatever. I suspect [No 10 Chief of Staff] Morgan McSweeney didn’t want him to go,” said the MP, granted anonymity to give a frank assessment of their leader. JOBS AT HOME GOOD, TREES ABROAD BAD The COP30 leaders’ event is taking place in Belém, the Amazon port city near the edge of the world’s greatest rainforest. But in a symbol of how domestic messaging trumps all else, Starmer will use that global platform to talk about a somewhat less exotic port: Great Yarmouth in East Anglia. It’s one of three U.K. locations — along with Greater Manchester and Belfast — where new, private sector clean energy deals are being announced, securing a modest 600 jobs. The COP30 leaders’ event is taking place in Belém, the Amazon port city near the edge of the world’s greatest rainforest. | Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images If COP’s Brazilian hosts were hoping for a grander global climate vision, they are about to be disappointed. The U.K. won’t be stumping up any taxpayer money for a global fund to support poorer countries to protect their tropical rainforests — key carbon sinks that, left standing, can help slow the rate of climate change. The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) is supposed to be the centerpiece of the summit for Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but Lula has not been able to rely on even his close, left-wing ally Starmer — with whom he likes to chat about football — to weigh in with a financial contribution to match Brazil’s $1 billion. The U.K. played a role in establishing the concept of the TFFF. An energy department spokesperson said the government remained “incredibly supportive” of the scheme. But, with Reeves warning this week that her budget would deal with “the world as we find it, not the world as I would wish it to be,” her Treasury officials won a Whitehall battle over the U.K.’s financial backing for the scheme. Ministers say only that they will try to drum up private sector investment. ‘KEIR, SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE’ The decision neatly captures the Starmer approach to climate action. If it suits the domestic economic and political agenda, great. If not then, then there is no guarantee of No. 10 and Treasury support. Taxpayer-funded international aid spending, a vital part of the U.K.’s global climate offer, has been slashed. At the same time, despite stretching emissions goals, one of the world’s busiest airports, Heathrow, will be expanded — because of its potential benefits for growth. Ministers are looking at watering down a pledge to ban new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, amid a sclerotic economy. The Treasury is considering easing the tax burden on fossil fuel companies. The bipolar approach risks bringing Starmer and Reeves into conflict with the U.K.’s energetic, committedly green Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who will lead the country’s delegation to the COP30 conference and the formal United Nations negotiation. “On all of this, there is Ed on one side, Rachel on the other, and Keir somewhere in the middle,” said the government official. Starmer largely subcontracts his climate and energy policy to Miliband, said an industry figure who frequently interacts with government. Many MPs wish Starmer would act more like Miliband and embrace his green record more exuberantly. They point to the recent surge in support for the Green Party, which is making some in Labour nearly as nervous as the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to their right. OUTFLANKED In that context, it was a “no-brainer” for Starmer to go to COP and appear “visibly committed to climate action,” said Steve Akehurst from the political research firm Persuasion UK. “In so far as there is any real backlash to net zero in the U.K., it does not exist inside the Labour electoral coalition,” he said. The Greens are now “competing strongly for those votes.” A second Labour MP put it bluntly. “Starmer is so politically weak that to not attend would open up yet another front on his already collapsed centre-left flank,” they said. Before getting on the plane to Brazil, Starmer met sixth-form students at 10 Downing Street to talk about the summit and the environment. There was a flash of the green, idealistic Starmer that some say lurks beneath the political triangulation. He took the opportunity to remind the teenagers of the “obligation we undoubtedly have to safeguard the planet for generations to come.” “But also,” he added, it’s about safeguarding “hundreds of thousands of jobs in this country.” Additional reporting by Abby Wallace.

LONDON — American pharmaceutical giants will start to shutter their U.K. operations unless Keir Starmer’s government agrees to pay more for their drugs, U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Warren Stephens warned ministers on Wednesday. “The U.K. needs to continue addressing its pricing structures for medicines to ensure it can compete for investment from U.S. firms,” Stephens told a U.K.-U.S. business gathering in central London attended by British trade and foreign ministers. “If there are not changes made, and fast, pharma businesses will not only cancel future investments, they will shut down their facilities in the U.K.,” the diplomat said. “This would be a major blow to a country that prides itself, rightly so, on its life sciences sector.”  The U.K. is locked in drug-pricing negotiations with the Trump administration and pharmaceutical firms about how much the National Health Service pays for their products through the so-called Voluntary Scheme for Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) scheme. Britain has offered to increase the threshold at which the NHS pays firms for medicines by up to 25 percent, POLITICO first reported in October. But pharmaceutical executives are pushing the government to go further. American drugmaker Eli Lilly’s international business chief said on Monday that it wants to see more changes to Britain’s medicine market before it pivots on its abandoned £279 million investment in a biotech incubator project. “I don’t think we have heard enough to say that we are willing to get the Lilly Gateway Lab started,” Patrik Jonsson, president of Lilly’s international business, which covers all markets outside the U.S., told POLITICO. The focus of talks has turned to the government’s “clawback” system, where firms have to pay back part of their revenue if the total amount the NHS spends on drugs rises above a certain cap. Unless ministers agree to also raise that cap, any extra NHS spending will mean a larger clawback bill for pharma companies. Pricing talks feature in the U.K.’s ongoing trade negotiations with Washington after Starmer struck a framework trade deal with Trump in May, promising to “improve the overall environment” for pharmaceutical firms operating in Britain. U.K. negotiators are currently in Washington and “progress is being made on this literally as we speak,” Stephens said, adding he hopes “that will yield some success.”  The U.K.’s “chief obstacle” to growth is also its high energy costs, Stephens added. “If there are not major reforms to U.K. energy policy, then the U.K.’s position as a premier destination in the global economy is vulnerable.”  Britain’s Labour government is “completely signed up to an ambitious agenda for business,” said Trade Minister Chris Bryant, in an address following Stephens’ speech. He set out how the government plans to “integrate” its industrial, small business and trade strategies to grow the economy.

LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Theresa May laid into her own political party Monday night, accusing it of taking a populist tilt to the right that risks emboldening Nigel Farage. May criticized the Conservatives’ decision to repeal the Climate Change Act 2008, which requires the government to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, as an “extreme and unnecessary measure”  that would “fatally undermine” Britain’s leadership on climate issues. The U.K. committed to reaching net zero under May’s administration, something Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch has since called “impossible.” Badenoch has also advocated extensive oil and gas extraction from the North Sea. “This announcement only reinforces climate policy as a dividing line in our politics, rather than being the unifying issue it once was,” May told fellow members of the House of Lords. “And, for the Conservative Party, it risks chasing votes from Reform at the expense of the wider electorate.” May also lambasted the “villainization of the judiciary” by politicians “peddling populist narratives” and said this would “erode public trust in the institutions of our democracy and therefore in democracy itself.” Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, who narrowly lost the Tory leadership contest last year, used his conference speech earlier this month as a tirade against “dozens of judges with ties to open-borders charities” and said “judges who blur the line between adjudication and activism can have no place in our justice system.” Though May recalled “frustrating” experiences coming up “against the courts” as a minister, she urged her party to “tread carefully.” “Every step we take to reduce our support for human rights merely emboldens our rivals and weakens our position in the world,” the former prime minister said. “Those politicians in the Western world who use populism and polarisation for their own short-term political ends risk handing a victory to our enemies.”

LONDON — Since Labour swept into office last year, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has traveled the country enthusing over the government’s dream of a humming, futuristic net-zero economy. The good news, according to polling released Wednesday, is that his vision still has the backing of the public. The bad news is that support is slipping — and voters aren’t convinced Miliband is the guy to deliver it. For Miliband’s political opponents, this validates their wider attacks on him as an out-of-touch climate warrior, flogging a net-zero dream voters have rejected. At Reform’s party conference Friday, party chair David Bull referenced “mad Ed swivel-eyed Milliband.” Not to be outdone, the Conservatives have vowed to squeeze every molecule of oil and gas from beneath the North Sea, deadly heatwaves be damned. But it also shines a light on a confusing feature of British politics: a misalignment between the stories politicians want to tell about efforts to stop climate change, and stuff the public actually care about. At Reform’s party conference Friday, the party chair David Bull referenced “mad Ed swivel-eyed Milliband.” | Leon Neal/Getty Images The polling, conducted by progressive think tank More in Common and the Climate Outreach NGO, found the number of people who think reaching net-zero emissions will be good for the U.K. vastly outnumber those who think it will have a negative effect — 48 percent versus 16 percent. More people feel that the shift to clean energy has been fair than unfair. In Scotland, more are proud of the offshore wind industry (63 percent) than the oil and gas industry (54 percent). “Those who seek to divide communities with climate disinformation will not win because they do not represent the interests or values of the British people,” Miliband said in a statement shared with the media. Despite this, voters are hesitant about the personal impact of a country rushing to go green. Seventy-four percent of people think the U.K.’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 will eventually cost them money personally. The gap between those who think it will be beneficial for the U.K. versus harmful has shrunk by 20 points in only a year. This is frequently interpreted as a sign that a personal desire to help fix the climate is butting up against the hard realities of net zero, which requires changes like fitting millions of heat pumps and EV chargers and overhauling the energy grid. Further polling released by The Times Tuesday backs up the sense voters are growing more divided on climate change. It shows support for net zero collapsing among Reform and Conservative voters, while overall the issue has slipped from voters’ list of top concerns. But analysts from Climate Outreach said part of the problem isn’t the message but the messengers. “Politicians are not well trusted to speak about climate,” the NGO said in an analysis shared with POLITICO. In fact, elected leaders were the least trusted carriers of the climate message — beneath also-lowly ranked protesters and energy company executives. TRUST ISSUES Voter wariness about pro-climate messages isn’t a feature of green politics in particular, said Emma James, a researcher at Climate Outreach, but a symptom of broader public cynicism about government. “They don’t trust that politicians are there for people like them. Some audience segments feel that the system is rigged against them,” she said. It’s not net zero the public aren’t buying, it’s the ability of this government — or any government — to deliver it. Voters believe the NHS remains broken. National projects like high-speed rail lines and nuclear power stations keep being delayed at higher and higher costs. This creates a problem for Miliband. At a time of deep voter skepticism, his Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) is pursuing precisely that kind of major national project — involving upfront costs, disruption and complex trade-offs, with the promise of huge savings to private and public purses down the line. It will, Miliband argues, generate new jobs. Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives went in search of their own set of climate salespeople. | Carl Court/Getty Images “We will win this fight by showing the visible benefits of the clean energy transition,” insisted one Labour official, granted anonymity to discuss the government’s internal deliberations. The story of failure, however, is pervasive and self-reinforcing, said Richard Johnson, a political scientist at Queen Mary University of London. “Policy delivery has to be tied in with a compelling political narrative and the political leadership that can tell that story and interpret what people are seeing in front of their eyes,” he said. “I wonder now if there is such a high level of cynicism … that even if you did tell a compelling narrative around policy delivery, that people would not believe it.” Johnson lays the blame with Miliband’s boss, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, “who has been in a way almost catastrophically unable to put together a compelling narrative for his government. Or, quite frankly, even his own leadership.” Downing Street says it is focused on driving economic growth across the country. This is not isolated to Labour. Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives went in search of their own set of climate salespeople — before deciding that there was more political capital in ditching pro-climate policies. Climate Outreach said Miliband could turn this problem into an “opportunity,” as long as he laid off the grand projet and focused on the visible, local benefits of climate policies. And there is some evidence that Labour gets it, seen in the government’s move to chip in for the energy bills of people living in sight of unpopular new electricity pylons. The more conservative or skeptical parts of the British electorate still had deep enthusiasm for messages about protecting the environment, the pollsters said. But most important, the NGO argued, was bringing other voices into the frame. While politicians are viewed very dimly indeed, experts and scientists are seen as credible messengers, the polling shows. So too are those seen to understand what life is like for normal British people. Farmers were among the messengers who cut through most with traditionalists and those described by the pollsters as “patriots.” Jeremy Clarkson, DESNZ needs you.

LONDON — The Conservatives might be stuck in the wilderness of opposition. But a host of digital warriors are determined to turn their fortunes around. Wounded by an election rout delivering the party’s worst ever result last year, a band of battle-hardened millennials and Gen Z whizzkids are trying to keep the flame of U.K. conservatism burning bright. Despite languishing in the polls and facing constant threats from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, some Tories are keen to show they’ve not given up the fight by posting snappy, eye-catching social media videos.  “It’s absolutely essential that they bring through some new talent,” argued Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, and author of The Conservative Party After Brexit: Turmoil and Transformation. Pointing to opinion polling about the last Tory government, Bale argued, “people are not prepared to forgive that generation of politicians.” Party Leader Kemi Badenoch’s position remains insecure ahead of Tory conference this fall, with some Conservatives eying former leadership opponent Robert Jenrick as a possible successor. The shadow justice secretary has garnered a significant following on X by posting videos lambasting the government in a direct, no-nonsense style. Topics include tackling Tube fare dodgers and visiting northern France to meet migrants planning to cross the English Channel. Jenrick, it seems, has inspired others to follow suit. Here, POLITICO runs through the Tory posters keeping the dream of actually governing again alive.  KATIE LAM  The Weald of Kent MP went viral on X in April for a punchy parliamentary speech about grooming gangs.   Lam makes regular appearances on podcasts like the Spectator’s Coffee House Shots and less traditional outlets like football chairman Peter McCormack’s show. Serving as a Home Office whip, an X video last month about migration’s impact on public services — using pink beads to represent immigrants and jars to represent Britain — was praised for explaining a complex policy in an understandable way. Bale speculated whether videos like this aimed to boost the profile of newer MPs with journalists: “Although it seems like going over the heads of the media, actually, to be honest, Twitter is going through the media.” Lam has posted long social media threads on the economy, parliamentary sovereignty, the Equality Act and grooming gangs. Her ubiquity on the think tank and parliamentary circuit even saw a video compiling her appearances to the soundtrack of Blondie’s Atomic. And she met JD Vance during the U.S. vice president’s vacation in Britain. DANNY KRUGER  Kruger was a key figure during the dying days of the last Conservative government. Previously David Cameron’s chief speechwriter and Boris Johnson’s political secretary, Kruger has seen the Tories through highs and lows. He shows no signs of slowing down. Kruger was a key figure during the dying days of the last Conservative government. | Justin Tallos/AFP via Getty Images The East Wiltshire MP led the campaign against the assisted dying bill, with clips of him opposing the proposed change in law widely shared online — and emphasizing that conservatism was built around people’s duty to one another.   A 2023 book “Covenant: The New Politics of Home, Neighbourhood and Nation” was expanded on with a lengthy X thread about religion after MPs approved assisted dying. Kruger’s reach grew even larger with a viral Commons speech in July about restoring Christianity. The chamber was empty — but his comments were viewed millions of times. Kruger also met Vance over the summer.  NICK TIMOTHY  Timothy was only elected last year, but is a political veteran. The West Suffolk MP had a bumpy time as Theresa May’s joint chief of staff in No 10. He resigned after the then PM spectacularly lost her parliamentary majority in 2017 on a manifesto he co-authored.  Entering the Commons seven years later, Timothy has reinvented himself, writing punchy columns on topics as broad as net zero, assisted dying and immigration.   He has made a running arguing that free speech is under attack, and accusing Britain’s politicians of allowing a de facto blasphemy law to take hold. Introducing a private members’ bill on freedom of expression, Timothy attracted attention after questioning whether criticism of Islam is now allowed in modern Britain. He may be an old hand, but he’s shown an adeptness at grabbing attention in the modern age.  Timothy attracted attention for raising concerns about whether criticism of Islam was allowed. | Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA HARRIET CROSS   The Conservatives had few successes last year, but did manage to hold most of their Scottish seats, including the new Gordon and Buchan constituency in north east Scotland, which elected Cross as its MP. The One Nation Tory, who originally backed centrist Tom Tugendhat in the leadership race, has campaigned online strongly on issues that tend to cause Labour trouble.   Labour’s refusal to grant any new oil and gas licences and instead focus on renewable energy was leapt upon by Cross, whose seat is right by fossil fuels hotspot the North Sea. She posted regular videos from parliament defending employment in fossil fuel industries and trying to set a clear dividing line.   Labour’s inheritance tax changes for farmers also attracted her ire, and she was tapped up to introduce Scottish Tory Leader Russell Findlay at the party’s summer conference. Given the tough prospects facing the Tories at next year’s Holyrood elections, expect Cross’ star to rise. JAMES COWLING   Cowling has run Next Gen Tories since November 2022, an organization that puts “tackling the generational divide” at its core. Previously a parliamentary researcher, Cowling regularly posts graphics about modern housing costs.   Alongside working at the London Stock Exchange Group, Cowling has written for free market CapX website, where he suggested that a “vibe shift” backing fiscal responsibility could benefit the Tories. He told City AM that delivering infrastructure projects and lowering taxes was essential to stop young people from backing authoritarianism. Cowling has shown a willingness to debate opponents on the left-wing PoliticsJOE podcast too, which has a sizable young audience.  James Fisk, Next Gen Tories’ social media and content lead, said digital media creators should “enjoy it as much as possible” and not take it “ridiculously seriously, because people will see through it.” But Fisk admitted, “you really win people over in person.”   SIMON CLARKE  Clarke served in Liz Truss’ disastrously short administration, and was among hundreds of Tory MPs ejected from parliament last year, albeit by a tiny margin of 214 votes. However, he’s not opted to retreat from politics, and instead thrown himself into wonk world, heading up the center-right Onward think tank since January. “If you’re not shaping the digital debate, you’re at risk of talking to empty air,” Clarke told POLITICO, stressing the Tories needed to present their ideas confidently. “We’ve often tried to win online arguments with corporate tone and committee lines — and it doesn’t work.”  Clarke has certainly had some fun by answering 20 quickfire questions on an exercise bike, walking and talking around Westminster and (temporarily) becoming the new James Bond with “a license to build” as chair of Conservative YIMBY. Maybe losing your seat isn’t so bad after all? “If you’re not shaping the digital debate, you’re at risk of talking to empty air,” Simon Clarke told POLITICO. | Tolga Akmen/EPA JAMES YUCEL   Yucel directs Conservative YIMBY’s day-to-day operations (as well as working at Onward). An organization existing “to make the Conservative Party the home of the builders once again,” its Yes In My Back Yard approach starkly contrasts with older Tory voters, many of whom oppose new housing.  Conservative YIMBY’s first policy document, which was launched in a Westminster townhouse, outlined eight ways the Planning and Infrastructure Bill could be improved. The group’s denim blue “build baby build” baseball caps, costing £15, have become prolific, with Katie Lam, Tory Chairman Kevin Hollinrake and even Kemi Badenoch herself persuaded to wear them. Yucel sees former Home Secretary James Cleverly, who now shadows the housing brief, as an ally in his battle and has argued forcefully for the right to back more housing. But he has also defended Badenoch in a separate thread for her skepticism about Labour “overriding local democratic consent” on housing. The Tories want to fundamentally show they’ve got a USP for younger voters. “The Conservative Party has got an existential problem,” Tory peer Daniel Finkelstein warned. “It doesn’t have the support of enough young people, and if it doesn’t win that support, it can’t survive.”

LONDON — The British government is expected to unveil crucial guidance on scope-three emissions for oil and gas projects in the North Sea on Thursday, according to two industry figures and a figure familiar with government planning. Climate watchdog the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning launched a consultation last October on guidance for emissions in the fossil fuel industry.  That consultation closed in January. This followed a legal verdict last summer, known as the Finch case. It determined that end-use emissions, known as ‘scope three’, must be factored into the environmental impact of fossil fuel projects as part of applying for planning permission. OPRED and the North Sea Transition Authority regulator have paused decisions on licenses for new drilling projects and the granting of existing licenses until the government clarifies its position. “We took the decision … that we have some decisions to take that risk looking a bit incongruous. [So] we pause, we wait until we see what the policy landscape from government is, and then we decide what to do moving forward. And so that’s exactly where we are,” Stuart Payne, NSTA chief executive, told POLITICO in January. This includes fossil fuel projects Rosebank and Jackdaw in the North Sea, which campaigners successfully challenged earlier this year — leading to their environment approvals being revoked. A DESNZ spokesperson told MECUK they were not going to comment on speculation, but confirmed Energy Minister Michael Shanks would be in Scotland on Thursday. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included an inaccurate decision date.

LONDON — Britain’s undersea infrastructure is highly vulnerable to Russian sabotage. That’s the stark warning from defense and energy experts ahead of the country’s major strategic defense review, expected next week. They warn that critical gas pipelines, power lines and data cables are the “soft belly of British security” — leaving the country exposed to potentially “catastrophic” sabotage at the hands of Russia or other enemies. The British government — which is hiking defense spending — said last month that it will address the threat to pipelines and other undersea infrastructure as part of its review, expected Monday. It comes amid rising tensions with Putin’s Russia, and at a time when Europe is already on alert over a spate of potential sabotage incidents affecting subsea cables and pipelines. But U.K. experts, including former senior government officials, believe the dangers are being underestimated. In an interview with POLITICO, Grant Shapps, who served as both energy and defense secretary in the last U.K. government from 2022 to 2024, said “complacency” about the problem was “genuinely worrying.” “Our undersea infrastructure is a sort of soft belly of British security, and not enough is being done,” Shapps said.  “It’s not a question of if there’ll be a problem at some point, it’s when there’s a problem. This should be a much higher concern for the government. And I don’t just mean that it’s placed on a risk register somewhere. … [We need] a national endeavor, a national plan to protect our undersea infrastructure.” NORD STREAM STYLE Undersea infrastructure is “one area” the defense review will examine, ministers have said. The U.K. and its allies have already increased naval patrols and increased monitoring to combat threats to infrastructure. But while much of the political focus has centered on data cables, security and energy experts warned that the greatest risks could come from an attack on a gas pipeline — like the mysterious 2022 attack on the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea. The U.K. is more dependent than most G7 countries on gas to warm homes and provide electricity. More than half of demand is met by imports, chiefly from Norway, and most Norwegian imports come via a single pipeline — the 715-mile long Langeled, which was built in the 2000s and remains one of the country’s vital energy arteries. But while much of the political focus has centered on data cables, security and energy experts warned that the greatest risks could come from an attack on a gas pipeline — like the mysterious 2022 attack on the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea. | Stefan Sauer/EFE via EPA “Langeled is our single biggest point of weakness,” said Adam Bell, a former Whitehall head of energy strategy, now director of policy at the Stonehaven consultancy. “It doesn’t mean we would all keel over and die if it were blown up — but it means everything gets a lot more expensive quickly. You move toward a risk of rationing [the gas supply].” While the odds of an attack are “pretty low,” the impact would be “catastrophic,” said Jack Richardson, who was an adviser to former Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho under the last Conservative government and is now an associate fellow at the Council for Geostrategy and head of policy at Octopus Energy. “There is no other way of putting it. If Langeled gets knocked out we’re in massive trouble as a country,” he said. Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said Putin’s Russia had “invested fairly considerable resources into capabilities that could be used to sabotage critical national infrastructure.” An open attack on U.K. infrastructure would be an act of war, meaning any such attempt by Russia would likely be covert. But the government should be alive to the risks that might unfold “on day one” of a potential conflict or “in the transition from crisis to conflict,” he said, should Russia seek to cripple the U.K.’s energy supply before hostilities even began. “Given that’s a narrow window of opportunity for them, they’d probably go after areas where they think there are minimal redundancies,” Kaushal added. “Langeled is an obvious example. … I definitely see that as an important part of their approach to the opening days of a conflict or the build-up from a crisis to a conflict.” NETWORK EMERGENCY The U.K.’s ability to weather any attack would largely depend on wider questions of supply and demand, including whether the country was experiencing a cold snap, how much gas was held in storage, and whether more liquefied natural gas (LNG) — super-cooled gas that can be traded around the world via tankers — could be procured on the international market. The U.K.’s biggest LNG supplier is the United States. “The big risk is that you lose Langeled and the U.S. stops sending LNG cargoes, which is painfully plausible,” said Bell. “We could probably endure one but not both without rationing.” The reliability of U.S. support in that scenario is “impossible to know” and “depends on what goes through Trump’s head at 3 a.m.,” Shapps said. If sufficient quantities of gas could not be found to replace lost supply — for example, in the event of an attack on multiple pipelines — a Network Gas Supply Emergency could be declared. These procedures are enshrined in law but have never been triggered since the U.K. gas network was built in the 1960s. Initially, gas power stations could be shut down, leading to power cuts. These could be turned back on again quickly when the gas supply returned to normal, but in more extreme scenarios, factories and businesses — and, as a last resort, some households — could be cut off from the gas network entirely. The U.K.’s biggest LNG supplier is the United States. | Olivier Hoslet/EFE via EPA Energy industry experts, granted anonymity to discuss crisis planning, said in the event of such a drastic step, individual engineers would be required to reconnect each home to the gas network safely. It could take months before the network was back to normal, they said.  Ireland, which is dependent on gas imports from Britain, would also be badly affected. The U.K.’s latest National Risk Register, published earlier this year, contains a “reasonable worst-case scenario” of a terror attack on gas infrastructure that leads to “rolling power cuts lasting up to three hours,” and predicts that “restoration of the affected gas infrastructure could take approximately three months.” Asked what he considered the most dangerous sabotage scenarios for the U.K., Shapps said he was “cautious about saying what my ‘lay awake at night’ greatest fears were, because it would lead somebody to the answer.” “It’s unlikely that all our gas pipelines will be cut at the same time. But [let’s] argue in this case they were and we had zero gas — you’d look to bring in more LNG, you try to compensate in a whole variety of different ways. I think the most serious attack [would be] a really combined attack of energy and on data cables — then you’re in a different level of difficult.” GET OFF GAS The U.K. still meets around half its gas demand through domestic supplies from the North Sea, but the quantities left in the ground are diminishing. Richardson and Bell both argue that in the long-term, the way for the U.K. to guarantee its gas security is to reduce dependence on these fossil fuels. The Labour government plans to cut gas from the power system almost entirely by 2030, but Richardson argued ministers should also “be doing way more on the consumption of gas, particularly for heat.” “The simple answer is, you’ve got to diversify as much as possible, including away from oil and gas,” Shapps agreed, but added that in the short term ministers should drop plans to ban new gas exploration licenses in the North Sea and eke out as much as possible from domestic supplies.  “It is completely idiotic and based on ideology to stop digging our own oil and gas,” he said. A government spokesperson said: “Our priority will always be maintaining our national security, and protecting subsea and offshore infrastructure.  “Alongside our NATO and Joint Expeditionary Force allies, we are strengthening our response to ensure ships and aircraft cannot operate in secrecy near the U.K. or NATO territory, harnessing new technologies like AI and coordinating patrols with our allies.” Gassco, the Norwegian firm that operates the Langeled pipeline, did not respond to a request for comment.

LONDON — Keir Starmer wants to reset relations with the European Union. At a summit in London Monday, he’ll finally break ground on the first phase. WHAT’S HAPPENING? European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas are meeting the British prime minister in London for a long-awaited U.K.-EU summit. The forum was first mooted in October 2024 when Starmer traveled to Brussels to kick off his “reset.” The main outcome of that meeting was an agreement to hold more meetings — specifically, “regular” U.K.-EU summits to use as a framework for improving cross-Channel relations and reforming or building on the Brexit settlement. This is the first one. It’s mostly about getting talks rolling on a range of issues over the coming months, but some concrete outcomes are expected as well. A No. 10 Downing Street official said late Sunday: “Negotiations are going down to the wire and a deal is not yet done. There are some outstanding issues on both sides and conversations will continue overnight.”  WHAT’S ON THE TABLE? As a baseline, officials working on preparations for the summit expect three main things out of the meeting: a security pact, a declaration on global issues, and a “common understanding” of future topics to be negotiated. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas are meeting the British prime minister in London for a long-awaited U.K.-EU summit. | EPA-EFE/Olivier Matthys Security is seen in both capitals as the least controversial aspect of the reset and so a good place to start, though which specific measures will make it into any agreement is yet to be nailed down. The accord is likely to create more “structured dialogues” of the kind beloved in Brussels — official forums for the EU and U.K. to discuss cooperation and strategy. There are also likely to be measures to make it easier for defense industries to cooperate across the Channel. Britain wants access to more EU security databases, too, though it remains to be seen whether it’ll be successful. Asked if the security and defense agreement would ensure Britain access to EU+ weapons procurement programs, one EU diplomat said: “Potentially yes, it would let in Britain to weapons procurement deals. If not, we would have still have [the] SAFE [rearmament fund]. If we do not get an agreement unexpectedly, we could still include SAFE into the wider deal. There are diplomatic safeguards.” While this agreement is widely anticipated, some diplomats believe it isn’t an absolute certainty. That is, in part, due to fishing. More on that below. DEADLINES Both sides are also keen to use the meeting to address looming deadlines on energy and fishing — where existing arrangements in former PM Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal are set to expire next year. Some EU member countries, notably France, are keen to link progress on fisheries to unlocking other aspects of the talks, though they’ve been coy in public about their exact demands. The EU is effectively seeking an extension of the current — very favorable — arrangements for fishing in British waters for multiple years. If one isn’t agreed, access would have to be negotiated on an annual basis, which would be a pain for EU fleets and would hand the U.K. recurring leverage. London, by contrast, is seeking to avoid headlines that the British government has once again sold out its fishing industry. It’s a tricky balance for Starmer. Energy is slightly different. Like fishing, the agreement struck by Johnson expires in June 2026. On this topic, though, neither side really likes the current arrangements — which are clunky, inefficient, and accused of holding back investment in the North Sea and raising prices for consumers. Both sides want to replace it with something better. But it’s not clear whether that will be done in one fell swoop at Monday’s summit, or put on the to-do list. FUTURE TALKS The “common understanding” of future topics is where the biggest remaining issues raised in the run-up to the summit are likely to end up. Think: a youth mobility agreement, a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement, and linkage of emissions trading systems. Electricity trading could find itself there too, as could items like the mutual recognition of professional qualifications and improved conditions for touring artists on the continent. Some EU member countries, notably France, are keen to link progress on fisheries to unlocking other aspects of the talks, though they’ve been coy in public about their exact demands. | EPA-EFE/Malton Dibra What finally makes it into this package will set the agenda for relations for the rest of the year, ahead of a scheduled review of the Brexit trade deal. This isn’t a formal deal as such and doesn’t mean the policies name-checked are guaranteed to happen. Instead, it’s a to-do list of plausible areas where both sides think cooperation could be enhanced within the framework of the existing Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Expect this area to be heavily scrutinized — and a measure of how ambitious Starmer’s reset will really be. THE POLITICAL PITFALLS The summit takes place against a difficult political backdrop for Starmer. A YouGov poll released Friday saw his approval ratings fall to an all-time low of -46, a 12-point drop in the space of a month. This was largely driven by a whopping 34-point monthly drop among Labour voters. His Labour Party now consistently tails Nigel Farage’s Euroskeptic Reform outfit in the polls. Reform voters, constantly wooed by Labour, detest the prime minister, with just 2 percent having a positive opinion of Starmer compared to 96 percent with a negative view — down a further five points on last month. Whether Starmer uses the opportunity to lean into an ambitious reset in the hope of restoring public trust, or shies away from anything too bold, will become clear Monday. Opposition parties smell an opportunity. The pro-European Liberal Democrats — to whom, along with the Greens, Labour is bleeding more voters than it is losing to Reform — are urging Starmer to go further and join an EU customs union. The Tories, who are struggling for airtime, have pledged to rip up any deal that crosses their tight red line the second they return to government. Reform vows to hammer Starmer on immigration if he signs up to a youth mobility scheme. WHERE AND WHEN? The summit will take place at Lancaster House, a five-minute walk from Downing Street. It’ll be largely a morning event. Expect it to be topped off with a press conference before lunchtime.

LONDON — Harbour Energy plans to slash hundreds of jobs in the U.K. and will review its investment in a major carbon capture and storage project, the firm announced Wednesday. The giant North Sea oil and gas producer blamed the row-backs on the government’s tax regime, as it revealed it has launched a review of U.K. operations. Two hundred and fifty jobs are expected to go across its Aberdeen offices, Harbour said in a statement. “The review is unfortunately necessary to align staffing levels with lower levels of investment, due mainly to the government’s ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment,” said Scott Barr, managing director of Harbour’s U.K. business. The company also said it was “reviewing the resourcing required” to support the Viking carbon capture and storage project. Progress on Viking had been “hindered by repeated delays to the government’s track 2 process,” Harbour said. Harbour’s latest financial results, published in March, showed a swing from earnings of $45 million (£33 million) in 2023 to losses of $93 million (£70 million) in 2024. Shadow Energy Secretary Andrew Bowie described the developments as “devastating” for north-east Scotland. “This must be seen as a pivotal moment for the future of British oil and gas. The utter insanity of Labour’s policies on the North Sea. Jobs lost, imports doubled, our country less secure. Urgent change of course required,” he wrote on social media platform X. A Downing Street spokesperson said: “It’s a commercial decision for that individual company, and I think they’ve made clear that there have been significant pressures from global inflation and supply chain issues in relation to [the] industry. We are committed to working with them to get that project back on track.”