Miatta Fahnbulleh appointed UK energy secretary, faces drilling decisions
10 reported1 unconfirmed
Miatta Fahnbulleh has been appointed as the UK’s new secretary of state for energy and net zero, according to a single-source report from The Guardian. In her first 48 hours, protesters from Fossil Free London met her outside her offices dressed as firefighters, holding placards reading: “We’re already putting out fires, don’t start new ones.” The decision on whether to approve new drilling at the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields off Scotland is a key issue, as these are not covered by the ban on new North Sea drilling licences because their applications were already under way when Labour took office. Fahnbulleh previously led the New Economics Foundation (NEF), a thinktank that called for a total end to new drilling in the North Sea basin in a 2021 joint report with Friends of the Earth. She is the only MP from the 2024 intake to be given a full cabinet position, and she previously served as a minister at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government after being deputy to her predecessor Ed Miliband in DESNZ. The report notes that Fahnbulleh was born in Liberia in 1979 and came to Britain as an asylum seeker at age six, settling in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
What’s reported
Miatta Fahnbulleh is the new UK secretary of state for energy and net zero.
Protesters from Fossil Free London met her outside her offices in her first 48 hours.
The decision on approving new drilling at Jackdaw and Rosebank fields is a key issue.
Jackdaw and Rosebank are not covered by the ban on new North Sea drilling licences because their applications were already under way when Labour took office.
Fahnbulleh led the New Economics Foundation (NEF) from 2017 to the end of 2023.
In a 2021 joint report with Friends of the Earth, NEF called for a total end to new drilling in the North Sea basin.
She is the only MP from the 2024 intake to be given a full cabinet position.
She was born in Liberia in 1979 and came to Britain as an asylum seeker at age six.
She studied PPE at Lincoln College, Oxford, and earned an MA and PhD in economic development at the London School of Economics.
She was a former adviser to Ed Miliband and first joined government as his deputy in DESNZ.
Open questions
The article does not specify whether Fahnbulleh will approve or reject the Jackdaw and Rosebank drilling applications.
Key figures
Miatta Fahnbulleh: UK energy secretary, MP for Peckham
Ed Miliband: predecessor and intellectual ally
Tessa Khan: executive director of campaign group Uplift
Imogen Dow: energy lead for Friends of the Earth
Laura Clarke: CEO of ClientEarth
Keir Starmer: UK prime minister (mentioned in resignation letter context)
Sources: The Guardian
