Stealth actors plays crude trick on MP
On Saturday November 8, the office of Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh, was spotted adorned by what appeared to be a large homemade banner bearing the message: “Lou Haigh pls help stop Rosebank Oilfield”.
Whilst nobody is completely sure how it got there, an Instagram post by Sheffield’s #StopRosebank group notes that Sheffield’s most high profile politician has so far refused to meet with the group to discuss her position on the large new oil development planned for near Shetland in the North Sea. A member of the #StopRosebank campaign commented “We have emailed Lou Haigh twice, but despite our requests for a meeting, which we thought she was obliged to provide, we have only received boiler plate responses detailing other aspects of the government’s energy policy.”
For anyone who doesn’t keep an extremely close eye on UK energy policy developments, Rosebank is an oil field owned by Norwegian company Equinor and Ithaca Energy. Rosebank contains up to 300 million barrels of oil and some natural gas. If all that oil and gas was burned nearly 250 million tonnes of planet warming gas would be released into the atmosphere. In comparison, the UK’s annual emissions in 2024 were 371 million tonnes. The oil field was originally approved in 2023 while Rishi Sunak was still in power, however as Labour subsequently pledged that there will be no more new oil and gas developments in the UK its future has always been uncertain. This initial approval was revoked in January 2025 after a court ruling that the environmental impact of the project needed to consider the impact of not just constructing the infrastructure and extracting the oil and gas but also the emissions relating to burning the fossil fuel that would be extracted.
If the UK intends to meet its national and international targets for emissions reductions, there is no way it can do that whilst approving new oil and developments. Although those in favour of the development suggest it would improve energy security and help lower energy bills, as oil and gas prices are set globally and at least 80% of the fuel extracted would be sold on the international market these claims seem very dubious to say the least.
In the photos shared with The Star the banner hangs, almost cheekily, directly above the politician’s own doorway. Close inspection of the photo shows it is suspended from a conveniently located pipe with cable ties. We are not sure when the banner was removed but it was definitely in situ from some point during the night on Friday until Saturday morning but was reportedly gone by 8pm in the evening. Whilst the Sheffield #StopRosebank group is not taking formal responsibility for the action, the banner drop has been promoted via their social media channels suggesting that they are definitely trying to capitalise on the intervention.
I spoke to some of the campaigners to ask what they are hoping might be gained from this very public request “We are hoping the banner might encourage Lou Haigh to meet with us. We would like her to sign the #StopRosebank pledge to oppose the Rosebank oil field and advocate for a properly funded just transition for oil and gas workers. We have collected lots of post cards showing that many of her constituents agree. Other Sheffield MPs like Abitsam Mohamed have already signed.”
Another chimed in “We think Lou Haigh can be someone who is principled enough to try and sway the government’s decision on this development, which if it went ahead would be an absolute disaster for the climate. If she isn;t her constituents should know about this”
Lou Haigh has a strong majority in Heeley, taking the seat with 21,230 votes with her nearest opponent Alexi Diamond of the Green Party securing 5926 votes by comparison. However, the Green Party is ascendent and Alexi is the most high-profile green councillor in Sheffield. Alexi is often found speaking at pro-Palestine rallies and demonstrations to face down fascists and to show that Sheffield is a place that welcomes refugees, like the one which took place on Saturday. Could a potential shift to the Greens seriously threaten Lou Haigh’s majority? Will this banner be enough to make her meet her constituent campaigners? Will she now come out publicly and oppose the oilfield? Well, we’ll have to wait and see.