The International Energy Agency has called for no new oilfields. Are we about to turn a deaf ear and give the go-ahead to the ill-advised Rosebank project off Shetland?

Norway’s state oil giant, Equinor, plans to reapply soon to develop the oilfield - after Scottish courts overturned the Conservatives’ 2023 approval of the project - because, ridiculously, the Tories in the climate assessment ignored the climate impact of burning the extracted oil.

That impact is catastrophic: more CO₂ than 28 of the world’s poorest countries emit in a year, wrecking the UK’s climate targets and breaking the International Energy Agency’s call for no new oilfields.

Rosebank won’t lower bills or boost energy security - the oil will be sold on global markets. But the UK would hand Equinor huge tax breaks, leaving us to fund environmental destruction while foreign shareholders take the profits.

Scientists, campaigners, and MPs across parties have urged a halt. Yet in March, Rachel Reeves said Labour will press on. That would betray the anti-Tory coalition that elected them - Lib Dems, Greens, left-leaning Labour, and even some One Nation Tories - on a promise of change.

Approving Rosebank would not be a change. It would be business as usual and Conservative ‘climate vandalism’ with a red rosette. It’s classic 1980s-style economics: privatise the profits for the wealthy, socialise the costs for the rest of us.

Block Rosebank, protect the future, and honour the trust you’ve been given. Wise up, Labour!

On the Cumbria Coal Mine, you did the right thing - you listened to the science and the law, then withdrew your appeal and changed your position. Rosebank is no different (and it’s the same Scope 3 emissions issue). Do the right thing again. We’re counting on you.

Sarah Dennehy

Via Email

Europe is roasting under a “heat dome” with temperatures up to 42°C. A June heatwave killed 2,300 people in ten days across just 12 European cities. Wildfires rage in Canada, destroying 7 million hectares and polluting the air in cities many miles away. UK wildfires have jumped from 69 in early 2024 to 564 in the first half of 2025.

The science is clear - fossil fuels are driving this. The solution is clear too - transition fast to clean energy.

Yet Reform UK’s Nigel Farage calls climate breakdown a “hoax” and Net Zero “Net Stupid Zero”. In May, he claimed Net Zero will cost the taxpayer £45bn a year - however, he used outdated figures. Current estimates are £26bn a year, with £22bn from private investors and only £4bn from public funds. Over 25 years, costs total £650bn, but savings from cheaper operations are expected to be £600bn. Net Zero could virtually break even for taxpayers.

Farage left all that out. It was in the report he quoted, but he didn’t mention it. Why, I wonder? And especially, why no mention of private funding? There’s a big difference between £45 billion and £4 billion as an annual cost to the taxpayer.

When lives, livelihoods and ecosystems are on the line, creating false narratives using outdated data with crucial facts missing, all for political advantage, isn’t just dishonest - it’s dangerous and utterly despicable!

Simon Honey

Via Email

At the time of writing, 61,430 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including at least 18,430 children. The total includes 217 who have died of starvation, including 100 children. The United Nations has warned that all children of Gaza under the age of five are at risk of life-threatening malnourishment. So far, 40,500 children have been injured. British paramedic Sam Sears, who recently spent three weeks in Gaza, described the situation as 'a conveyor belt of carnage'. Following an incident where two children – aged nine and 11 – died from blast injuries, he said: 'It was particularly heartbreaking putting a child in a body bag, seeing their face for the last time, then moving them out [of] the way so we could treat more people'.

At the end of last month, two Israeli human rights groups, B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, published reports stating that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The first report condemns Israel for the 'massive, indiscriminate bombardment of population centres' and the 'starvation of more than two million people as a method of warfare'. The second report states: 'The evidence shows the systematic and deliberate dismantling of Gaza's health and life-sustaining systems through targeted attacks on hospitals, obstruction of medical aid and evacuations and killing and detention of healthcare personnel'. The charge of genocide has been reiterated by several Israeli scholars and researchers, including Holocaust and genocide experts.

This is happening when we in the UK are witnessing the unedifying spectacle of police, sanctioned by our government, arresting protestors, including pensioners carrying placards which include the words 'I oppose Genocide'. This is happening when Keir Starmer, a human rights lawyer, tells Netanyahu, like a naughty child, that his planned extension of the war, in effect, the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, is 'wrong'.

Faced with genocide, we need the government to do more than threaten to recognise Palestine as a state in September. We need the greatest pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire, allowing in all the necessary humanitarian aid, and in so doing, maximising the possibility of the return of hostages. The greatest pressure has to consist of economic sanctions and the complete ban of arms sales, including our sales of spare parts for F-35 jets, which have been used to kill civilians in Gaza. We need more than just words. The children dying now in Gaza need more than just words.

Yours faithfully,

Mike Baldwin

Rachel Reeves, when allocating railway funding, gave nothing to the South West. Now we read that MPs Caroline and Martin – and others – are also ‘devastated’ by the Government’s decision to exclude us.

No one in their right mind would see billions spent on four phases of a major project at Dawlish, only to halt it before the final phase, which would cost just a fraction of Ms Reeves’ allocated railway funds.

Let’s not forget it cost taxpayers £1.2 billion the last time a section of the cliff fell there. This is terrible news. I still remember, more than 50 years ago, waiting at Totnes to meet family from a train delayed for hours as it was stuck at Dawlish. Now we could be cut off entirely when the inevitable happens.

No doubt our MP will continue to fight for us, just as she does for our farmers, the elderly, and those with EHCPs.

Regarding my recent letter praising the NHS and Fair Week, I would like to add my thanks to my own GP, who chose to give me a call, and to the medical secretary who also phoned me. Thank you as well to our mayor, Cllr Julia Wingate, for all her involvement with Fair Week, which brought so much enjoyment to our community.

Ruth Brooking

Kingsbridge

Another week of this Labour government and we have seen even more positive change for the nation.

Under the Conservatives, school truancy was out of control.

Under Labour, in their first full academic year, there were five million more attendances at school.

Under the Conservatives, thanks to Liz Truss, interest rates rose and pensions crashed.

Under Labour, we have a stable economy, and, as a result, have seen five interest rate cuts in a row, thus saving mortgage payers £1,000 per year.

Promises made, promises kept!

Geoffrey Brooking

Via Email