19 Mar 2026
Christopher Williams
Business Editor
Good morning,
Gas prices surged 35pc after Iran launched missile strikes on the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export facility in Qatar.
Also in today’s edition
North Sea giant ready to exploit UK’s biggest oil field this year
AI becomes a battleground between tech bros and the masses
Gas prices surge 35pc after Iran strikes major Gulf energy site
Iran attacked Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas facility overnight
Chris Price
Markets Editor
Gas prices surged by 35pc after Iran launched strikes on the world’s biggest LNG plant.
Europe’s benchmark contact leapt to €74 per megawatt hour on Thursday, more than double its levels from before the Middle East conflict.
The price of Brent crude oil also surged more than 5pc to more than $113 a barrel overnight after Iran escalated its retaliatory attacks in the Middle East.
Donald Trump said he would “massively blow up” Iran’s strategic South Pars gas field if it attacked other nations in the Gulf again.
From the Business editor
Miliband’s damaging net zero legacy
Ed Miliband’s shutdown of the North Sea will cost the Government £10bn in lost tax revenue between now and 2030 Credit: Christopher Furlong//Getty Images
Give Ed Miliband his due. Net zero’s own Hiroo Onoda is impressively committed to his cause.
Onoda, you’ll recall, was the Japanese soldier who continued a campaign of guerrilla warfare in the Philippines for almost three decades after the end of the Second World War. He refused to believe that the conflict was over.
Miliband’s position on net zero and new drilling of the North Sea is not very dissimilar. Over recent months, a succession of his comrades have told him that the world has changed. The unions that in 2010 helped him knife his brother to become Labour leader are now mounting direct attacks on his signature policy.
The list of his pro-decarbonisation opponents is growing rapidly. The Tony Blair Institute. The Labour-backing Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson. The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar. The wind farm trade body RenewableUK.
They’ve all recently called for new drilling in the North Sea, and in increasingly urgent terms amid a global energy crisis. In The Telegraph this month, Jackson warned the Government against “wishful thinking” and “ideology”, which is about as direct an attack on Miliband as you’ll hear from a business leader.
You might think he would feel the pressure to change course. The Energy Secretary is more aligned with Zack Polanski than his own party. But like Onoda, Miliband seems determined to fight on, alone in the woods.
Only this week, he effectively told the manufacturers’ organisation MakeUK to get stuffed, after it called for approval for the drilling of the Rosebank and Jackdaw developments to mitigate energy costs and energy security. The suggestion that more North Sea oil and gas would lower prices was “totally false”, the Energy Secretary declared, falsely.
More domestic gas would displace more expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports (and also lower emissions). It would improve Britain’s energy security, too. That is part of Miliband’s brief and indeed his job title. Yet, to him, energy security is only ever a reason to push harder and faster towards net zero.
The looming Rosebank and Jackdaw decisions are, of course, behind all the attempts to convince Miliband that a headlong rush to shut down the North Sea is not in the national interest. Perhaps the inflationary pressures of the Iran war will tip the balance in favour of drilling, after all.
However, the domestic political backdrop does not fuel hope. The weakened Prime Minister has already tried and failed to reshuffle the Energy Secretary. Meanwhile, Miliband knows he will very probably lose his Doncaster seat at the next election.
The fear must be that his lonely pursuit of an unpopular and damaging legacy in the North Sea is now a kamikaze mission.
AI becomes a battleground between tech bros and the masses
Protesters are rallying against the rapid expansion of AI data centres in the UK and the impact of AI Credit: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images
James Titcomb
Technology Editor
Earlier this week, I stood in a windswept field in Hertfordshire speaking to protestors who are fighting plans for one of Britain’s biggest AI data centres.
Equinix, the US company planning to build the site, claims the £4bn facility will help grow Britain’s economy and keep it at the forefront of the AI revolution.
Locals, naturally, don’t want this happening in their backyard, but protesters are also asking a broader question: does anyone want this?
AI is threatening to take away jobs, causing regular stock market crashes and making us dumber. Despite its constant promotion by politicians, perhaps it is no wonder the technology is facing a backlash.
The UK-based broadcaster said nothing again. But actions, as ever, speak louder than words.
Today’s Headlines
UK hits Chinese steel with 50pc tariffs to protect British industry
Attack on Gail’s reopens anti-Semitism wounds at The Guardian
Fed raises inflation forecasts after Trump’s war triggers ‘oil shock’
Rolls-Royce scraps electric car target as ‘drivers prefer V12 engines’
chart of the day
North Sea giant ready to exploit UK’s biggest oil field this year
Britain’s largest undeveloped oil field, Rosebank, could yield millions of barrels of oil a day – but the £3bn project hinges on approval from Ed Miliband.
The Energy Secretary is under mounting pressure to sign off on the plan as punishing windfall taxes squeeze North Sea operators and threaten wider production.
Opinion
Jeremy Warner
Not so easy, this Brexit business, is it?
Spurned by Donald Trump, Britain now is now falling back into the EU’s orbit – for a high price
Markets
MY MUST-READS
Wired: Two Literal Crypto Bros Built a Real Estate Empire. Then the Homes Started to Fall Apart
The Wall Street Journal: Arizona Files Illegal-Gambling Charges Against Predictions Platform Kalshi
The Ankler: Wall St. Sours on the Ellison Deal: ‘This Should Not Be a Public Company’
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