THE government will allow oil and gas extraction near existing fields to expand North Sea production without requiring new licences, ministers revealed today.

Despite an election campaign pledge to grant no more licences, Labour has introduced “transitional energy certificates,” which allow drilling in areas “adjacent” to current fields, provided no new exploration is undertaken.

The move, part of the North Sea Future Plan, was announced hours after Chancellor Rachel Reeves rejected calls to scrap the windfall tax on energy giants.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the plan was intended to ensure North Sea workers and communities can continue to “help power our country and our world.”

North Sea Transition Authority chief executive Stuart Payne said the plan “provides clarity and direction for the energy industry.”

But Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie warned that Labour’s backtracking would “have a devastating impact for people and planet.”

Mr Harvie said: “This news will be celebrated by some of the world’s biggest polluters, who are already raking in massive profits while our world burns.

“It is a U-turn that will have catastrophic consequences for our climate.

“There is no environmentally friendly way to expand drilling in our North Sea and it is utterly reckless for Labour to be backtracking like this.”

Mr Harvie said Britain’s energy future must be based on “clean, green renewable energy,” adding: “Scotland has a huge renewables potential, with the chance to create tens of thousands of high-quality jobs for the future and ending our dependence on volatile fossil fuel prices.

“But that won’t happen if we are carving up even more of our North Sea for polluters.”