THE government will allow oil and gas extraction near existing fields to expand North Sea production without requiring new licences, ministers revealed today.

Despite an election campaign pledge to grant no more licences, Labour has introduced “transitional energy certificates,” which allow drilling in areas “adjacent” to current fields, provided no new exploration is undertaken.

The move, part of the North Sea Future Plan, was announced hours after Chancellor Rachel Reeves rejected calls to scrap the windfall tax on energy giants.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the plan was intended to ensure North Sea workers and communities can continue to “help power our country and our world.”

North Sea Transition Authority chief executive Stuart Payne said the plan “provides clarity and direction for the energy industry.”

But Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie warned that Labour’s backtracking would “have a devastating impact for people and planet.”

Mr Harvie said: “This news will be celebrated by some of the world’s biggest polluters, who are already raking in massive profits while our world burns.

“It is a U-turn that will have catastrophic consequences for our climate.

“There is no environmentally friendly way to expand drilling in our North Sea and it is utterly reckless for Labour to be backtracking like this.”

Mr Harvie said Britain’s energy future must be based on “clean, green renewable energy,” adding: “Scotland has a huge renewables potential, with the chance to create tens of thousands of high-quality jobs for the future and ending our dependence on volatile fossil fuel prices.

“But that won’t happen if we are carving up even more of our North Sea for polluters.”

The plan also officially closed the door to new exploration, which was greeted as a “major milestone” by environmental groups.

Tessa Khan, the executive director for campaign group Uplift, said: “This government is right to end the fiction of endless drilling.

“The North Sea is an ageing basin, with most of the gas already burned, and new licensing will do nothing to stem the decline in jobs.

“Oil and gas firms have made billions in recent years but these profits have been handed to bosses and shareholders rather than reinvested to support UK workers.”

She urged the government to “be bold” and create a plan for workers.

Greenpeace UK co-executive director Areeba Hamid said that “closing the door” to new exploration “marks the beginning of the end of oil and gas in this country.”

“However, the current plan - and the cash - to support North Sea workers doesn’t go far enough,” she said.

“It’s vital they are at the heart of Britain’s transition to a clean-energy superpower, not left behind by it - but a £20mn jobs package doesn’t cut the mustard.

“A fair transition will create thousands of new jobs, strengthen communities, and prove that climate leadership and economic security can go hand in hand.”