New Labour MPs take over £45,000 from oil and gas lobbyists

New Labour MPs have received tens of thousands of pounds in donations from oil and gas lobbyists, Global Witness analysis can reveal.

Lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry – and in one case an energy company itself – donated over £45,000 collectively to Labour’s new intake of MPs, according to the first update to the MPs Register of Financial Interests since the election.

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party, has called for the donations to be returned, describing the revelations as "deeply concerning." 

Three Labour MPs who previously worked for lobbying and PR firm Lexington received donations from the company’s executive director.

Lexington’s clients include: Phillips 66, which runs the Humber Refinery, a facility responsible for processing billions of litres of primarily North Sea crude oil a year; International Airlines Group (IAG), whose director recently criticised net zero targets for damaging competitiveness; and Eren Holding, which runs coal power stations in Turkey.

MPs Mary Creagh, Oliver Ryan and Steve Race took £3,000, £2,000 and £2,000 respectively from Mike Craven, co-founder and executive director of the PR and lobbying firm. Craven is also the director of Starmer-linked think tank Labour Together.

Craven also donated £2,000 to MP Liam Conlon, son of Labour chief of staff Sue Gray, and £13,900 to Hamish Falconer, Labour’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Falconer was a former policy fellow of Labour Together.

Creagh and Falconer both hold front bench positions, with Creagh serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nature since becoming the MP for Wakefield.

At least four Labour MPs took almost £25,000 of donations or event sponsorship from lobbying and PR firm PLMR (Political Lobbying and Media Relations). 

The firm claims it helps energy companies to “enhance [their] public footprint, or influence government policy.” 

It represents InterGen, which owns multiple fossil fuel power plants in the UK and was fined £37 million by regulator Ofgem in 2020 after manipulating energy prices. It also represents low-cost airline company Jet2 and Centrica, owner of British Gas, and one of the largest suppliers of gas and electricity in the UK.

New MPs Marie Tidball, Jess Asato and Jade Botterill received £7,500, £2,355 and £7,500 from PLMR respectively. 

Botterill, MP for Ossett and Denby Dale, was a former director of Portland, a lobbying and PR firm whose clients include BP, EDF and Chinese petroleum company CNOOC.

While many have taken money from firms who lobby for oil and gas interests, one MP has received money from a fossil fuel firm itself. Labour MP for Ipswich Jack Abbott took a £2,000 donation from French energy company EDF Energy. He also received a total of £7,603.30 from PLMR for “sponsorship” of two events, according to the register.

Abbott has been criticised for accepting the donation from EDF Energy, the developer behind the nuclear energy project Sizewell C, from campaigners who oppose the project.

Oil and gas companies have expressed concern over Labour’s alleged plans to ban new North Sea oil licenses and to increase a windfall tax on profits, claiming it will be “game over” for North Sea oil and gas.

Industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), which represents over 400 oil and gas companies, said members of its industry were “deeply concerned” with Labour’s proposals, and claimed they would impact the UK’s “economic growth.”

Since the election, energy secretary Ed Miliband has pledged to make Britain “a clean energy superpower with zero carbon electricity by 2030,” in order to move towards net zero. Labour has lifted an onshore wind ban imposed by the Tory government, and is expected to increase the levy on oil and gas profits.

It is not clear, however, whether Labour will move ahead with its plan to ban any new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea – a key manifesto pledge.

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party and MP for Bristol Central, told Global Witness the donations should be returned.

“To hear that MPs from Labour or any other party are taking donations from firms connected to the fossil fuel industry is deeply concerning. We are facing a climate emergency and there can be no room for malign influences on policy making whilst our planet boils.”

Current lobbying laws do not prevent MPs from taking donations from lobbying firms, and do not prevent MPs working for these firms, as long as payment is correctly declared, and they do not lobby on behalf of any company in Parliament. 

Labour has said it intends to crack down on MP’s second jobs, but is yet to introduce legislation.

"Unfortunately, the current rules aren't fit for purpose. We need a firewall between MPs and the oil and gas lobby,” said Denyer.

“These MPs should return the donations they’ve been given, and Labour should bring in legislation that prevents donations, sponsorship and the buying-up of former ministers by oil and gas lobbyists. 

"We would also like to see a ban on the practice of MPs doing consultancy work for fossil fuel interests and the introduction of stricter rules on MPs taking jobs in the industry after leaving parliament."

A Labour spokesperson said: “All donations are declared in accordance with Parliamentary and Electoral Commission rules.”

Mike Craven, Lexington, PLMR and all MPs mentioned were approached for comment.