Lindsay Hoyle rebukes energy secretary over Jackdaw announcement to media
The Commons Speaker said MPs should have heard about the gas field approval before it was announced in media interviews. Energy Minister Michael Shanks said he would relay the criticism.
Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle criticised the UK government on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, for announcing its approval of the Jackdaw gas field to the media before telling MPs. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh missed the statement in the House of Commons, where Energy Minister Michael Shanks presented the decision instead.
Why Hoyle objected to the Jackdaw announcement
Hoyle called the handling of the announcement ‘shameful’ and ‘an immense discourtesy’ to the House. He said the decision had been trailed by the press on Tuesday night and announced across the media on Wednesday morning before MPs could scrutinise it. The Guardian reported that Hoyle invoked the ministerial code’s expectation that ministers make important announcements to the Commons first.
Hoyle also criticised Fahnbulleh’s absence from the chamber. The Evening Standard reported that she was giving media interviews and visiting Shell UK’s St Fergus Gas Terminal in Aberdeenshire while Shanks prepared to address MPs. Hoyle said: ‘I’m sorry that Sky News is more important rather than the members of both sides.’ His complaint concerned both the order in which the decision was disclosed and the secretary of state’s absence when MPs received the statement.
Shanks’s response in the Commons
Shanks told Hoyle he respected his comments and would take them back to the department. Hoyle asked whether there would be a leak inquiry, or whether the department had deliberately briefed the media. He raised those as questions; neither report established that an inquiry had begun. The exchange put the government’s handling of an energy decision before MPs as a question of parliamentary scrutiny.
The rebuke followed the government’s approval of Jackdaw, a North Sea gas field. The Evening Standard reported that the project’s owner, Adura, estimated it could deliver around 6% of UK North Sea gas production. The estimate describes the project’s potential contribution, while Hoyle’s criticism addressed how ministers presented their decision to Parliament.
The Evening Standard also reported that the government announced a fund intended to direct North Sea tax revenues into green energy schemes, while environmental groups criticised its support for Jackdaw. Those competing responses show the wider stakes of the approval that MPs were seeking to examine when Shanks spoke in the Commons.
Read in depth: Politics
Full details of Burnham’s water overhaul may wait until 2027 spending review
A broad plan for England’s water sector is expected in December, but officials are still working through how greater public control would operate and what it might cost.
Great British Energy budget shifts toward nuclear preparation and a new grid venture
POLITICO reports that billions from the state energy company’s budget have been assigned to work beyond its original renewable generation plans, while ministers set out a new...
Sources and context
- Energy Secretary slammed for revealing Jackdaw decision to media before MPsEvening Standard (Rachael Burford)
- Commons speaker accuses energy secretary of ‘immense discourtesy’ after she misses Jackdaw statement – UK politics liveThe Guardian (live reporting; byline not present in supplied extract)
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.