Sustainability professor’s talk at UK party conferences cancelled

A prominent sustainability professor had events cancelled at Labour and Conservative conferences after hosts of a panel he was on said they did not want his views on oil and gas aired in front of MPs.

Prof Matthew Agarwala spoke on the fringe at Lib Dem conference for the panel organised by Total Politics but was then pulled from similar panels at subsequent Labour and Conservative conferences.

Agarwala has said he was told directly by both Total Politics and the panel’s sponsor Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) that they did not want a dissenting view on the panel about the importance of North Sea oil and gas to the UK economy.

“I used to think cancellation was for culture wars and comedians, not economists. But point out that North Sea oil doesn’t cut UK energy bills, and suddenly you’re censored,” he said.

Agarwala, the Bennett professor of sustainable finance at the University of Sussex, said he was “hardly a radical on these issues”.

He said he had told the panel at Liberal Democrat conference that UK fossil fuel extraction did not reduce energy prices, that net zero was not the cause of high energy prices – rather they were caused by poor policy choices and failures to invest in infrastructure.

The panel was given the neutral title “Secure, Skilled, Sustainable: How a successful energy and industrial transition is underpinned by people and communities.”

After the panel at Lib Dem conference, Agarwala said Total Politics emailed him to say it had “made the difficult decision to adjust the panel line-up … our client felt that it was important to ensure that all messaging at the event aligns very closely with OEUK’s priorities during this particularly sensitive moment for their advocacy efforts”.

Agarwala said in follow-up calls with both Total Politics and OEUK, he was told that the panels were not intended to be interesting debates, but to push a certain policy perspective to MPs at the conference. He said he was told that panellists were meant to “agree entirely” with each other.

He claims he was told by OEUK that Aragawala’s views were not ones that the organisation wanted highlighting to MPs at such a critical time for the sector. They said they wanted to be mindful of the language used in front of Labour MPs, saying that the sector was desperate for movement in the upcoming budget.

Agarwala said he had wasted money on party conferences and also missed opportunities to speak on other panels, crucial for academics hoping to make the public case for their work.

He said that the lobbyist-sponsored panels at party conferences have “become the pay-to-play red-light district of British democracy: sponsors literally rent the rooms by the hour”.

He said it was clear that the oil and gas lobby “can’t defend their own message” and added: “The odd thing about cancelling me is that I’m hardly a radical on these issues. I often frustrate some of my environmental and climate colleagues.

“I depend on the oil industry that lets me visit my family in the US, and I support expanding aviation to boost growth and productivity in the UK. If they’d asked questions along those lines, I’d have engaged.”

An OEUK spokesman said they would invite Agarwala to another public event in the future to hear his views. “We need healthy debate on the UK’s energy future now more than ever,” he said.

“In a world that seems increasingly polarised, we believe facts and evidence underline the need to find common ground and to take a pragmatic approach. We are extending an invitation to Prof Agarwala to join a future OEUK public debate in London and hope he will accept the offer.”

Total Politics has been contacted for comment.