RECKLESS Tory plans to extract as much oil and gas as possible from the North Sea were condemned by campaigners today.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the party would make “maximising extraction” its goal if it wins power at the next general election.

She is due to announce plans to overhaul the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which oversees the issuing of licences, in Aberdeen on Tuesday, with the proposals to include the removal of the word “transition” from its name.

Ms Badenock promised that under the Tories, Britain would “get all our oil and gas out of the North Sea,” claiming that the country is in an “absurd situation” with vital resources untapped. 

“Britain has already decarbonised more than every other major economy since 1990, yet we face some of the highest energy prices in the developed world,” she said.

“This is not sustainable and it cannot continue. That is why I am calling time on this unilateral act of economic disarmament and Labour’s impossible ideology of net zero by 2050.”

According to NSTA data, only 14 per cent of the gas originally estimated to lie in the North Sea basin remains commercially viable.

A recent analysis by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition found that even if new fields are approved, Britain will still be 94 per cent reliant on imports by 2050.

Uplift executive director Tessa Khan said: “The Conservatives’ obsession with supporting polluting, profiteering oil and gas giants failed to get them elected last year and, given the drought and record heat hitting the UK, it’s even more reckless now. 

“Badenoch and the Conservatives are well aware that the North Sea is a declining basin — this is a geological reality.”

Chasing the last drops of oil and gas while dismantling net-zero commitments would be a “dangerous distraction from building the clean energy system that could actually cut bills and create jobs,” Ms Khan added.

Green Alliance executive director Shaun Spiers said: “Kemi Badenoch is playing games with people’s future jobs if she plans to extract every last drop of the North Sea’s declining oil and gas reserves under a Conservative government.

“Twice as much investment went into clean energy than oil and gas last year around the world, according to the International Energy Agency. 

“The UK remains the second most attractive destination for that capital in Europe, but only if we send the right signals to investors, and keep moving forward to a clean energy system which will give families and businesses stable energy prices for decades to come.” 

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: “We are committed to delivering the manifesto commitment to not issue new licences to explore new fields because they will not take a penny off bills, cannot make us energy secure and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis.”