A Nottinghamshire Reform MP says the UK needs to start drilling for its own oil, calling the reliance on gas and oil from Norway a “disgrace”. The claims were made by Newark’s Reform MP Robert Jenrick while on a visit to the Gulf petrol station in Lowdham on Tuesday (April 14). Mr Jenrick joined Ashfield’s Reform MP Lee Anderson to announce a one-day decrease in petrol and diesel prices at the spot to help motorists with soaring fuel prices amid the Iran war. The volatile crisis in the Middle East has furthered the debate around the country’s ‘energy security’, where the UK’s gas and oil prices can spike during global conflict as prices are influenced by international markets. But the Reform MP is continuing the push for the government to make better use of drilling in the North Sea to create a domestic energy supply to help drive down people’s bills. The push is ultimately being championed by the right, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch launching the ‘get Britain drilling’ campaign in March to tighten energy security. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Mr Jenrick said there are licences for North Sea drilling “sitting on Ed Miliband’s desk right now” and stressed the UK’s over-reliance on gas from Norway. Norway is an important gas supplier for the nation, with 47.1 per cent of the UK’s gas consumption coming from the Scandinavian country in 2025 – it was 69.5 per cent of the gas the UK imported that year. The United States is the world’s largest gas and oil producer, with it supplying 15.3 per cent of the UK’s consumption in 2025. The UK supplied itself 30.3 per cent that year, mostly from the North Sea. Mr Jenrick said: “We’re importing oil and gas from the Norwegian part of the North Sea when we could be getting it from our own dip. “I think that’s a disgrace, really, it’s a complete let-down for the British people. We can have energy security, we can bring down people’s bills and that’s what a Reform government would do.” The LDRS questioned Reform’s plans on a domestic energy supply, with some critics and experts arguing that international markets would still determine the price of gas, meaning it would not have much benefit on consumer prices. Mr Jenrick responded “gas can be set domestically – it’s not correct that you simply have to be a price taker and sell onto the international market” and compared it to the United States’ domestically sold gas. “Even if that argument I hear was true, it would still bring in billions of pounds of tax revenue that could be used to lighten the load of hard-pressed families here in the UK… and create lots of jobs.” Both Labour and the Green Party dispute Mr Jenrick’s claims, saying more drilling would not lower prices for British citizens. Oxford University research suggests drilling would cost households more than a fully renewable UK. Mr Jenrick said it is still believed there are “at least 40 million barrels” of oil under the North Sea and stated that, since 2021, the government has paid £100 billion to Norway for gas from the North Sea. “That doesn’t make sense,” he continued. “We’ve got to end that madness, which started under that last Tory Government, which I saw up close, and has now continued under the Labour Government – Reform would change that.” The Labour Government is focusing on a shift to renewable and nuclear energy and says the maturing North Sea has been declining for more than 20 years. Ed Miliband says the UK tapping into new fields in the North Sea will not reduce bills, with prices being set by international markets. What does Labour say? A spokesperson for the Labour Party said the UK is still producing around 1.1 million barrels a day from the North Sea, but “not a single barrel” of extra oil extracted would lower consumer prices due to international markets. According to the spokesperson, it would take around a decade to start production from a new oilfield, and the Iran war means the nation needs to get off the “fossil fuel roller coaster” by investing in clean, home-grown power with more price controls. They continued: “Here in the East Midlands, [Labour] has secured more than £90 billion of private investment in clean power with our approach, and we are creating well-paid, high-skilled jobs across the country. “Nigel Farage wanted to plunge Britain headfirst into war without a thought for the consequences at home. “Reform wants to outsource Britain’s energy security to fossil fuel markets over which we have no control. This Labour Government is focused on bringing down bills and investing in clean, home-grown power to bring bills down for good.” Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, said in a statement that drilling in the North Sea is “the last thing” the government should be doing and echoed the calls for clean energy. She said new drilling would only reduce the UK’s gas import dependency by around one to five per cent in any given year, where new drilling would only come into production in the early 2030s. “Drilling in the North Sea risks jeopardising our climate emission targets for little to no gain. Reform is once again dancing to Trump’s tune and that of fossil fuel lobbyists with their fantasy politics,” she continued. The Nottingham MP says social energy tariffs should be introduced for people needing them and “cutting the link” between gas prices and energy bills. What do the Greens say? Frank Adlington-Stringer, Green Party spokesperson for Welfare and Social Security, said oil and gas prices are determined by international markets and drilling would be “disastrous” for the environment, adding: “This is simply not how oil and gas markets work. The UK is a price taker, not a price maker. “Jenrick’s lazy comparison to the US is purposefully misleading; the US is the world’s largest oil and gas producer, with the capacity to fundamentally move global markets – Britain has no such power. “Even in the fictional scenario of the UK maximising every penny of North Sea oil and gas revenues to subsidise household bills, analysis by Oxford’s Smith School found bills would fall by just £16 per year.” Mr Adlington-Stringer said faster transitions to renewable energy would create an “endless and harmless” energy supply able to lower household bills to £0. “But that wouldn’t be in the interests of Reform UK’s donors, half of which profit directly from the fossil fuel industry,” he continued. He said while wind and solar have provided 40 per cent of the UK’s electricity demand during the Iran war, saving £7 million a day, gas prices soared by 42 per cent. He continued: “There is no mechanism under Reform’s proposals that would force these private operators to discount British gas for British consumers. “Only the Green Party is prepared to take back public control of our energy system, which would give Britain sovereignty over its renewable supply and independence from Trump’s wars of greed.”