CLIMATE campaigners slammed Tony Blair’s think tank today after it published a report advocating new oil-drilling projects which only “increase Shell and Equinor’s profits” and have nothing to do with our security.

The green energy advocacy group Uplift said that the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) was wrong again in its assessment of drilling projects in the Jackdaw gas field and the Rosebank oil field.

Uplift director Tessa Khan said the surge in energy prices due to the US war in Iran “does nothing to change the facts” and will not adequately address “the most pressing concern for the British public — how affordable our energy is.”

“The TBI has made previous calls to drill in the North Sea – and they were wrong then and they’re wrong now,” she said.

Ms Khan explained that Britain “has burned most of its gas and most of what is left in the North Sea is oil, the majority of which is exported.”

TBI policy adviser and author of the report Tone Langengen claimed Britain risks falling behind global competitors if it does not approve new oil-drilling licences.

But Ms Khan hit back, saying: “Rosebank is about increasing Shell and Equinor’s profits, and nothing to do with our security.

“The price we pay for both oil and gas are determined internationally, so producing it here doesn’t shield us from sky-high prices.

“Caving into their demands will only mean the continuation of higher bills for the rest of us for longer.”

She called for “genuine solutions, like more renewables, and upgrading homes with solar power, batteries and heat pumps are the only way to insulate ourselves from energy shocks.

“We’re halfway there – last month, British wind and solar energy saved [the country] from gas imports worth £1 billion.”