LIZ TRUSS’s plans to approve more North Sea oil drilling licences if she becomes prime minister will do nothing to bring down energy bills, environmental campaigners have warned. 

In response to the energy crisis, allies of the Tory leadership candidate are said to have been discussing proposals to approve up to 130 new gas and oil licences, according to today’s Times newspaper. 

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, who both back Ms Truss, have reportedly been meeting with oil and gas companies to negotiate a deal to secure more energy this winter. 

The plans are said to include obtaining more gas from Norway while maximising domestic production. 

But MPs on the climate change committee have previously noted that it takes 28 years for an exploration licence to lead to gas and oil production. 

Climate campaigners have responded to the reports with frustration, warning that the rush for new oil drilling projects in the North Sea will fail to lower energy bills while continuing to drive the climate crisis. 

Greenpeace UK chief scientist Dr Doug Parr said: “New oil and gas could take a quarter of a century to pump out, will be eventually sold at global prices and have no real impact on energy bills yet still fuel the climate crisis. 

“Our gas dependence is what got us into this mess and doubling down on it won’t get us out of it.”

Mr Parr added that new renewables and investment in home insulation would be the quickest way to bring energy bills under control. 

Climate group Uplift, which campaigns for a fossil-free Britain, said the “shocking” reports offered “false hope” to the public. 

“New North Sea oil and gas will do nothing to solve the crisis we face, which is one of affordability,” Uplift director Tessa Khan said. 

“Around 200 licences have been issued to companies since 2014, but barely a handful of these are producing any oil and gas today.

“Truss and her team need to spend less time talking to the oil and gas majors that are profiting from people’s poverty and start reaching for genuine solutions that will make a difference to people’s lives.”

Among the projects set to be given the green light if Ms Truss is elected by the Tory Party membership on September 5 is the Rosebank field, 80 miles off the west coast of Shetland. 

Friends of the Earth Scotland oil and gas campaigner Freya Aitchison warned that opening huge new fields like Rosebank would be “wildly irresponsible.” 

“Developing such projects might make sense to greedy oil firms who see an opportunity to exploit high fossil fuels prices, but the cost to both our climate and households struggling to pay the bills is far too great,” she said.