Wes Streeting will lay out a plan to increase high-skilled immigration and back new North Sea oil and gas fields as he makes his pitch to become Labour leader and prime minister.
The former health secretary, preparing to challenge Andy Burnham and others to replace Sir Keir Starmer, will use a speech this coming week to unveil a global talent programme aimed at recruiting 20,000 world-leading scientists, AI experts and engineers over three years. The programme would be housed in No 10 with a £250m budget.
“Wes Streeting will propose a global talent programme to recruit 20,000 scientists and use North Sea oil tax for energy bills.”
Streeting argued that Donald Trump’s administration was hostile to global science and that Britain should seize the opportunity. “We should open our door to the best and the brightest,” he will say. “Trump is saying to world-leading scientists, engineers, AI experts – you’re not welcome here. I would tell them: we’ll welcome you with open arms. Voters who want lower levels of migration aren’t opposed to inviting tomorrow’s Nobel prize winners to make their discoveries here in Britain.”
The leadership hopeful also backs allowing production at the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas fields in the North Sea. He will propose using tax receipts from the two fields to fund insulation, heat pumps and electrification, aiming to cut both energy bills and carbon emissions.
“Businesses and households are held back by high energy costs,” Streeting is expected to say. “The tax receipts from new North Sea oil and gas fields should be funnelled into cheaper energy: insulation, heat pumps, and electrification to cut bills and emissions.”
He accused opponents of the North Sea drilling of opening the door to a Reform UK government. “Opponents of the North Sea say it sets the wrong example to the world,” he will say. “But the worst example we can set is that net zero can only be delivered on the backs of the poor and working people’s jobs. This is the route to Nigel Farage walking into Downing Street and destroying our renewables industry. The best example we can set is to show that the net zero and growth agendas are not in competition. That we can cut bills and cut emissions at the same time.”
Streeting’s rival Andy Burnham is standing in Thursday’s by-election in Makerfield, while Starmer is due to head to France for the G7 summit. The contest to succeed Starmer is expected to intensify in the coming weeks.