New polling shows that half of people across the UK – rising to nearly two-thirds in ‘red wall’ constituencies – support continued domestic oil and gas production alongside renewables to reduce energy import dependencies, amid the Net Zero energy transition and ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) commissioned polling from Opinium between 11th and 22nd September 2025 to understand public sentiment across the UK, ahead of the Government’s Autumn Budget in late November.
The headlines of the nationally representative poll (2,050 adults), which also included a ‘red wall’ constituency oversample (commonly defined as 50 Labour-held seats in the Midlands and Northern England), revealed:
- 45% of people say they are financially worse off than they were 5 years ago. Just 25% say they are better off than 5 years ago – a minority experience.
- 43% believe life in their local area has worsened in the past five years. Just 9% think life locally has improved. 66% believe life in the UK has got worse.
- The cost of living (56%), immigration (48%), NHS decline (37%), and worsening quality of politicians and government (33%) are the top issues of concern.
Specifically on energy and industrial policy, the polling further highlighted:
- 50% of people on a UK-wide basis support continuing domestic oil and gas production alongside renewables, to reduce reliance on energy imports, during the Net Zero energy transition – rising to 63% among ‘red wall’ voters.
Responding to the polling data, OEUK Chief Executive Dave Whitehouse said:
“We understand these are difficult times. Years of economic and industrial decline are driving hardship in communities across the country, but these challenges are not insurmountable.
“The public are recognising there is a clear path from decline to growth through energy by maximising our homegrown potential in oil, gas, hydrogen, storage, and wind.
“That’s why our sector will press our proposals for oil and gas fiscal reform and wider offshore energy investment ahead of next month’s budget. We must capture the opportunities of a homegrown energy future and back UK jobs, communities and people.
“Working together we can de-polarise the energy policy debate and deliver decarbonisation through reindustrialisation, supporting communities and people across the country.”
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