Donald Trump's major divide with Keir Starmer and the UK exposed

In some ways Sir Keir Starmer will be quietly pleased with how his recent trip to Scotland to meet Donald Trump went. The Prime Minister will argue he got valuable, and lengthy, face-to-face time with the Leader of the Free World, even sharing a lift on Air Force One.

Their views on Gaza, on the face of it, aren’t a million miles away from each other and Britain, thanks largely to being outside the EU, has done better than most following the President’s tariffs blitz. A trade deal is still on ice but with Trump’s historic second State visit to the UK planned for September we might not have to wait too long to say cheers to another Brexit bonus. But, there was the humiliation of the US President telling the Labour leader his only chance of defeating Nigel Farage is to end the small boat crisis and cut taxes.

Not to mention the toe-curling moment when the Republican strongman trashed London Mayor Sadiq Khan, branding him nasty and useless.

Trump’s extraordinary intervention on how to win the next general election highlights that, despite their apparent bonhomie, there are many contrasts between the current incumbents of No 10 and the White House.

The differences between the two on energy policy are perhaps the starkest.

Sir Keir, along with his Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, has pledged to make Britain a “clean energy superpower” through an expansion of wind and solar farms.

They have also imposed restrictions on oil and gas drilling in the North Sea that operators say will shut it down.

While in Scotland, Trump heavily criticised the UK for its high taxes on North Sea oil "that make no sense".

He said there was "a vast fortune" to be made, describing the resource as a "treasure chest" for the country.

Posting on his Truth Social network, the President said: "North Sea Oil is a TREASURE CHEST for the United Kingdom. The taxes are so high, however, that it makes no sense. They have essentially told drillers and oil companies that 'we don't want you'.

"Incentivize the drillers, FAST. A VAST FORTUNE TO BE MADE for the UK, and far lower energy costs for the people!"

During his five-day "working visit" north of the border, home to two of his golf courses, Trump also repeatedly shared his views on wind turbines, describing them as "ugly monsters".

Labour has committed itself to supporting existing oilfields and discoveries in the North Sea but is against providing new licences for offshore areas that have yet to be explored.

The Prime Minister first floated the idea of ending the licences just over two years ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The idea was in line with a report in 2021 by the International Energy Agency.

The promise became policy in the party's manifesto last year.

Labour said that it would no longer issue exploration licences "because they will not take a penny off bills, cannot make us energy secure, and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis".

However, the party was also clear that it would "not revoke existing licences".

That was a nod to big projects that had already been approved by the former government, including Shell's Jackdaw gas field and Equinor's Rosebank oilfield.

Both projects were left in limbo in January after a legal challenge by environmental campaigners quashed the consent, boosted by a Supreme Court ruling last year.

Given that Labour never planned to stop Jackdaw and Rosebank, it is now revising environmental rules in a way that is expected to allow both projects to proceed.

UK oil and gas production peaked around 1999 and has been steadily in decline since.

A report by Sir Ian Wood in 2014 recommended maintaining North Sea output through to 2050.

An additional tax on North Sea profits, the energy profit levy, was introduced by Boris Johnson's government in 2022 as energy prices surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

It initially added a 25% charge to UK profits, bringing the total rate to 65%. It was then upped to 35% and investment allowances to help offset the tax were reduced.

In her first budget last year, Rachel Reeves increased the amount to 38% and extended the charge to March 2030, meaning there is an effective tax rate of 78% on North Sea profits.

By comparison, president Trump dismisses green energy as a “scam”

His 16-page election manifesto last year summarised his energy policy as “drill, baby, drill”.

He has taken a wholly different approach to the sector.

This is not least because, in contrast to the long-term decline of the North Sea, fracking has transformed the US into the world’s biggest oil producer.

The fact that Trump isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers on this side of the pond is plain to see.

He had a long-running row with former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, branding him “mad” for allowing a wind farm to be built close to his Aberdeenshire golf course.

Their war of words eventually escalated into a court battle which Trump lost.

While Trump’s domestic energy policy may have little bearing on the UK directly, the policy differences speak to the fundamentally different world-views of the two leaders.

Starmer has described climate change as the “greatest long-term global challenge we face”.

He made a point of showing up to November’s Cop29 conference in Azerbaijan, even as other world leaders such as Joe Biden gave it a miss.

Trump, by contrast, has rubbished international cooperation on climate change and suggested that it is a ploy by countries such as China to put America at a serious economic disadvantage.

During his first presidency, he pulled the US out of the historic Paris Climate Change agreement, under which nations made binding pledges to cut their carbon emissions.

When Biden and the Democrats came into office four years later, they rejoined – but Trump withdrew a second time when he returned to office in January, further widening the policy gulf between Washington and London.

Both Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK have promised to ditch Net Zero targets.

But despite Starmer and Trump’s recent bromance, Labour’s green ambitions risk driving a wedge between No 10 and Washington.