Kielland families welcome Norway rig deaths compensation
Families of British workers killed in an oil rig disaster 45 years ago have welcomed the Norwegian government's decision to pay them compensation.More than 120 people died, including 22 Brits, when the Alexander Kielland floating platform capsized in the Norwegian North Sea oil fields on 27 March 1980.Several relatives were in Oslo to see the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, agree by a narrow margin to pay compensation to survivors and the families of the deceased.Laura Fleming, whose father was one of those killed, said the agreement was long overdue recognition of the Norwegian state's failings.
Ms Fleming, from Durham, previously said there were unanswered questions about the disaster, which killed her father Michael and five of his compatriots from the Cumbrian village of Cleator Moor.The compensation motion had been opposed by the government but passed through the Storting by 53 votes to 51.
Ms Fleming, who was six when her 37-year-old dad died, said: "It's only right the Norwegian government have eventually done the right thing and agreed to pay a tiny amount of their wealth to the people that unwillingly and unwittingly sacrificed their lives."This feels likes a weight has been lifted of our shoulders."She praised the Kielland Network, a campaign group set up by survivors and families of the deceased to call for justice."People have given years of their lives to this cause and we are very grateful for the work that has been done," Ms Fleming said.
Among the 40 members of the Kielland Network who attended the vote in central Oslo, there was a great deal of sadness that the group's founder, Kian Reme, was not there with them.Mr Reme, whose brother Rolf was killed in the disaster, died in 2024 from cancer."He was the reason we got this far," Ms Fleming said, adding: "He was a man with strength of fight but also full of peace and forgiveness."He'd be so happy if he were here, but I'm sure he's up there proudly looking down at what everyone has continued to achieve."
Tara Pender, who lives near Nottingham, was with Ms Fleming in Oslo to see the vote pass.Ms Pender, who was 13 when her 41-year-old father PJ Pender was killed, also paid tribute to Mr Reme."It's such a shame Kian is not here," she said, adding: "He was amazing and worked tirelessly on this for so many years."She said the result was "very bittersweet" as many relatives and survivors had died before they got the recognition of failings from the Norwegian government they had craved."It's just been such a long time coming," Ms Pender said.She said she had spoken to several other British families of the deceased in the aftermath of the vote and they were "all delighted".
The four-year-old platform was being used as accommodation for the nearby Edda rig in the Ekofisk oil field about 200 miles (320km) off the coast from Stavanger, Norway, when one of its legs broke off during a storm.A 1981 Norwegian inquiry attributed the disaster to a crack in one of the braces caused during its construction in France, but the manufacturers said it had not been maintained or anchored properly by its operators.Some people received compensation at the time from the company which ran the oil rig, Phillips Petroleum, but campaigners said the Norwegian state should also accept responsibility.
A University of Stavanger study published in 2025 said families and the 89 survivors were let down by official investigations, while a 2021 review by the Norwegian auditor general found "highly reprehensible" failures to hold any of the companies involved in the disaster to account, or to support families and survivors.The Norwegian government apologised and funded the study to assess the impact on those affected.The government has opposed the compensation proposal put forward by a coalition of opposition parties but it passed by two votes, with further details now to be determined.
Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
12 hours ago
- BBC News
Post Office Horizon IT scandal compensation hits £1bn
More than a billion pounds has now been paid out in compensation to victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, according to new government figures.A total of £1.039bn has been awarded to just over 7,300 sub-postmasters across all four redress schemes, the latest monthly figures Office Minister Gareth Thomas said: "We are settling cases every day and getting compensation out more quickly for the most complex cases, but the job isn't done until every postmaster has received fair and just redress."More than 4,000 people have been told they are eligible for compensation. But the schemes they need to access to get it can be long-winded and broken down how they work. What are the main compensation schemes? There isn't a single compensation scheme for sub-postmasters to apply to, and individual eligibility will depend on the particular circumstances of an individual's four main schemes are aimed at groups of victims who had different experiences of the scandal. They are explained in more detail in the following sections. Which scheme is available to Alan Bates and others depicted in the ITV drama? Alan Bates led a group of 555 sub-postmasters in a landmark court case against the Post Office, which came to wider public attention after it was depicted in an ITV the cohort secured a £42.5m settlement in 2019, the huge costs of going to the High Court meant each claimant received a relatively low compensation pay-out at the end of Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme was set up to ensure they received extra money to reflect the gravity of their situations. The scheme is funded and managed by the of January 2024, people eligible for this scheme "will receive at least £75,000 in compensation upfront".The government estimates around two thirds will turn that offer down and push for more. In those cases, the government will award postmasters 80% of the initial offer made to 9 September, Labour said it will set a target of making an offer to 90% of sub-postmasters who have submitted a full claim within 40 of 31 January, £128m has been paid under the scheme, including interim the 555 members of the GLO group, 63 had criminal convictions and therefore are not eligible for this scheme but they are eligible for other compensation - depending on how their convictions are they are quashed by the court, they can apply to the Overturned Convictions Scheme. If they are overturned under legislation - the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 which became law in May - they can go to the newer Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme. What compensation is there for people with overturned convictions? There have been 983 convictions - 700 of which were privately initiated by the Post Office - linked to the faulty Horizon IT whose convictions are quashed can apply to the Overturned Convictions Scheme, whether or not they are in the GLO group. It is this scheme that the government has taken over responsibility for from the Post Office.A total of 111 people have had their convictions overturned as of 31 when the government's promised law to overturn all convictions linked to the scandal becomes a reality, hundreds more people will be whose convictions are overturned can choose to take a fast-tracked £600,000 settlement. Or they can enter into negotiations if they feel they are entitled to eligible people are entitled to an "interim" payment while their final settlements are processed. The government has provided funding to the Post Office for these those people whose conviction is overturned through the new law, they can register for the Horizon Convictions Redress will entitle them to an initial £200,000 interim payment. They can then decide to accept £600,000 or have their case fully of 31 January, external, £65m has been paid out under this scheme including further interim latest figures show that out of 111 eligible claimants in the OCS scheme, 82 claims for full and final settlements have been made with 66 paid out.A further seven have received offers. The remaining nine are awaiting offers from Post Office Ltd. More on the Post Office scandal Why were hundreds of Post Office workers prosecuted?PM backs calls to knight Post Office campaignerPost Office paid Fujitsu £95m to extend HorizonCan scheme to quash Post Office convictions work? What about sub-postmasters who weren't convicted? The Post Office scandal goes far beyond the original GLO court case and the people who wound up with criminal prosecution, some sub-postmasters poured their own savings into their businesses to make up losses that were incorrectly calculated by the computer September, the Labour government announced a new independent appeals process system called the Horizon Shortfall Scheme intended for those sub-postmasters who weren't convicted or part of the GLO court means they can appeal if they feel their financial settlement did not reflect the true extent of their losses and is administered by the Post Office but the independent appeals process will be overseen by the Department for Business. Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas said he was still considering whether to transfer this scheme to the government as has received more than 4,665 eligible claims so far, according to data, external from the Department for Business and Trade. How many people are eligible for compensation overall? The number of people eligible for one of the three main schemes stands at over 4,000 - and the government has said new potential victims are still coming is unclear how many of them will end up receiving payments, and the processes - which have been criticised by campaigners for being too slow - can sometimes take several years. What about people who died before receiving compensation? On 10 January 2024, the then Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake told the Commons the families of the 60 people who died before receiving any compensation would be able to apply for it in their place. How much compensation has been paid out so far? As of 2 June 2025, approximately £1.039bn has been awarded to just over 7,300 sub-postmasters across all four redress schemes. That total breaks down as:Horizon Shortfall Scheme - £559mGroup Litigation Order Scheme - £167mOverturned Convictions Scheme -£68mHorizon Convictions Redress Scheme - £245mThe amount an individual sub-postmaster receives can vary greatly depending on the circumstances of their Chris Hodges, chair of the the independent Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, told the BBC compensation payments that have been made so far range from £10,000 to "well over £1m".The government has not provided an estimate for how much compensation will be paid out in total, but it will inevitably run into the hundreds of millions on top of what has already been paid.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Andrew Bolt demands an investigation into Brittany Higgins' $2.4million payout after she announced her return to the workforce
Andrew Bolt has called for an investigation into Brittany Higgins ' $2.4million compensation payment from the federal government after she got a new job despite being 'diagnosed as medically unfit for any form of employment'. The former Liberal staffer made a compensation claim for damages in March 2022 after alleging she was raped in parliament by her former colleague, Bruce Lehrmann. He has always denied the claims but was found to have raped Ms Higgins on the balance of probabilities by Justice Michael Lee in April last year - a decision Lehrmann is currently appealing. In Ms Higgins' draft statement of claim, first reported by The Australian newspaper, she had been 'diagnosed as medically unfit for any form of employment, and has been given a very poor prognosis for future employment'. The claim suggested she was therefore due over $2.5 million in economic loss for 40 years' of missed earnings. These claims were untested in court given Ms Higgins was awarded the $2.4 million by payout after one day of mediation talks. Now, Sky News host Andrew Bolt has called for a 'hearing' into the decision. 'I feel taxpayers were taken for a ride by both Higgins and by the government. Shouldn't this payout be investigated?' he asked in a column for Newscorp. 'Indeed, it's now nearly two years since Linda Reynolds (former Defence Minister and Ms Higgins' former boss) rightly referred it to Labor's new National Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation. 'It's still deciding what to do, but Reynolds isn't giving up.' A decision in Senator Reynolds' defamation action against Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz is expected later this month. The couple were forced to sell their French chateau they bought in 2023 to pay for their legal bills. Despite once claiming not to be able to work again, Ms Higgins last week revealed she is returning to the workforce, joining the same company where her husband is employed. The 30-year-old is now the director of public affairs at the public relations agency Third Hemisphere, the Australian Financial Review first reported. Her appointment came soon after her husband David Sharaz announced in March he had taken on the role of director at the agency. The pair are working from home as they juggle their roles with looking after their son Freddie who was born on March 2. Ms Higgins shared the news of her appointment on Instagram with the caption: 'Your girl is finally back in the workforce!' It is the first full-time job for Ms Higgins since she was a ministerial media adviser and was thrust into the limelight when she made rape claims against Lehrmann. Following the trials, Ms Higgins became an advocate for survivors of sexual assault and has interned at the United Nations and has done work for Queensland's Human Rights Commission. Ms Higgins explained her move to Third Hemisphere came after fostering a connection with the firm's founder and CEO Hannah Moreno. Ms Moreno was also a rape and domestic violence survivor who campaigns for gender equality and fights against sexual harassment. 'There was this general feeling of "how long do I have to be the story for?" At what point do I get to put it to rest... and have my own identity outside this narrative of Brittany Higgins,' Ms Higgins said. 'I also have a brand reputation and I don't want to align myself in a corporate sense with someone that could be doing something untoward. 'I had to join a team that I fundamentally believe in and which believes in the same things that I do.' Ms Higgins said the role would be her first step in following her role models, including Governor-General Samantha Mostyn, Indigenous social activist and business executive Tanya Hosch and business executive Christine Holgate. In her new position, Ms Higgins will work with clients on reputation management and strategic advocacy. She will also handle stakeholder engagement, media relations and public affairs initiatives which create public discussion. Ms Higgins shared the news of her appointment to Instagram on Wednesday with the caption: 'Your girl is finally back in the workforce!' In August 2021, Mr Lehrmann was identified as the Liberal Party staffer accused of raping Ms Higgins inside Parliament House in 2019. Ms Higgins shared her alleged sexual assault ordeal with Channel 10 journalist Lisa Wilkinson in an interview aired on The Project. Lehrmann has always denied the allegations. Lehrmann faced the ACT Supreme Court in late 2022 but the case was dropped after a juror brought outside research into the deliberation room. Another criminal trial did not happen, with prosecutors citing concern for Ms Higgins' mental health. In 2023, Lehrmann launched legal proceedings against Wilkinson and Channel 10, claiming he'd been defamed by The Project episode. The ruling in that lawsuit left Lehrmann's reputation in ruins with Justice Michael Lee finding that, on the balance of probabilities, he raped Ms Higgins. He has appealed the ruling with the case to go before the Federal Court of Australia in August. After quitting her role as Liberal Party media adviser, Ms Higgins worked on short-term contracts at the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria and the Queensland Human Rights Commission. She also signed a book deal with Penguin Random House in 2021 for a tell-all memoir about her time in Parliament and the moment Lehrmann allegedly raped her. The final 90,000-word autobiography was meant to hit shelves in 2022, but publishers placed it on indefinite hold due to legal issues - namely, because the trial against Mr Lehrmann fell over and he was never convicted. It emerged this week that Mr Lehrmann is working unpaid as a live-in nanny to the children of a close friend as he awaits further trials.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Will the North Sea oil and gas industry be Labour's next U-turn?
It was inevitable that Nigel Farage would take Reform UK's campaign tour to Aberdeen. On a visit to the capital of the UK's oil and gas industry on Monday he welcomed a defecting Aberdeen Conservative councillor, the 13th defection to his party's ranks in Scotland to date. Reform is hoping to make political hay from the discontent surrounding the government's North Sea policies, the demise of the oil and gas basin and the vast workforce that depends on it. The populist party has vowed to reverse the government's ban on fresh North Sea oil and gas drilling as a 'day one' priority if elected to power in 2029. Farage's naked targeting of the Granite City and of net zero – which he has described as 'lunacy' and the 'next Brexit' – has some in Westminster and the energy industry asking what would once have been unthinkable: will Labour be forced to water down or even U-turn on its North Sea pledges? The Labour government swept to power last summer with a manifesto pledge to end new North Sea oil and gas projects and make Britain a clean energy superpower. But in less than a year the government has bent to the backlash against some of its most high-profile policies on benefits and winter fuel allowances, stoking speculation that its stance on the North Sea might be the next position to crumble. Industry sources believe the government may be poised to give the green light to new North Sea projects from this autumn. The Guardian understands that senior government advisers have told North Sea investors that new drilling could still move ahead despite the election promise, provided the projects are close to existing pipeline infrastructure and do not extend into 'greenfield' areas. One energy investor said government advisers in the Treasury and No 10 had 'quite openly' signalled that the door would be left open for new oil and gas projects to proceed despite the government's climate commitments. 'Myself and a number of colleagues have been told that the government is moving towards the idea of allowing new licences,' the source said. However, the claims are at odds with the green agenda set out by Ed Miliband, the secretary of state at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), who has previously described plans to develop the Jackdaw and Rosebank oilfields in the North Sea as 'an act of climate vandalism'. Those two oilfields, which are caught in a long-running legal battle over their emissions, will be a critical test of how Labour's desperation to counter the rise of Reform rubs up against its green principles. Cutting emissions has strong support in the UK, with YouGov polling in March showing 61% of adults support or strongly support the government's target of reducing emissions to net zero by 2050. About 24% oppose or strongly oppose the policy. But with domestically produced oil and gas being replaced with imports from Qatar and the US, sources believe that the Treasury is anxious to allow projects to move ahead to protect the more than 200,000 jobs that rely on the North Sea sector, and the billions in forecast tax revenues the industry generates for the exchequer. 'Within the Treasury there is a desire to interpret the manifesto commitment loosely,' a second industry source said. 'If there is an existing licence related to a field which means it might not be considered a 'greenfield' site then perhaps an expansion of that area could be acceptable.' The North Sea contributes £25bn in value to the UK economy each year, according to the trade group Offshore Energies UK, which is more than five times the contribution of the UK steel industry and twice the contribution of the UK car industry. 'I suspect there will be some difficult internal rows about what counts as a 'new licence' between DESNZ and the Treasury - but I suspect that ultimately the Treasury will win this battle, with support from No 10,' the source added. Labour's manifesto offers some room for manoeuvre: it promised that the party would not 'issue new licences to explore new fields', but would also not revoke existing North Sea licences granted by the previous government. This means that controversial North Sea oil and gas projects at Rosebank, Jackdaw and Cambo – which were given licences by the previous government – could in theory be granted final consent to move ahead without breaching the manifesto promise. Oil companies which hope to drill new wells within their previously licensed areas, known as 'in-fill drilling', could also be given the green light to extract more oil and gas from their existing projects. The sources have suggested that even more leeway may be created within the definition of the manifesto pledge. The election pledge was welcomed by green groups as a clear sign of the government's intent to meet its legally binding net zero targets as the climate crisis intensifies. However, critics of the policy – which include backbench Labour MPs and union leaders – fear that the economic fallout may outweigh any climate benefits as imported hydrocarbons increasingly replace North Sea oil and gas. Britain's trade unions, which donate generously to the Labour party, fear that job losses in the industry and its supply chains are accelerating quicker than companies can pivot towards the green economy. Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said: 'Letting go of one rope before we have hold of another by ending oil and gas licences is not acceptable. It threatens both our national security and jobs.' 'Oil and gas workers cannot be the coal miners of our generation,' she added. 'Britain needs to maintain skills and invest in the industries of the future. Jobless transitions will not be accepted by Unite, neither will jam tomorrow. If Labour do not back workers other voices fill the vacuum.' Andy Prendergast, the GMB's national secretary, said the union has called on the government to re-appraise the UK's energy policy. 'Existing policy is simply offshoring responsibility, importing virtue, and undercutting a transition for energy workers in the North Sea,' he said. One North Sea oil worker said the government's stance represented 'nothing short of a strangulation of an industry and of the north-east Scottish economy'. He voted Reform in the last general election and said he could not name a single person who would vote for Labour. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion 'Aberdeen is being bled dry,' the rig worker added. 'The hypocrisy of a government which is willing to import and burn fossil fuels for energy generation but is unwilling to support its homegrown hydrocarbon industry, all to catch the newspapers headlines for political point scoring, is astounding.' Mel Evans, a climate team leader at Greenpeace UK, said the switch from oil and gas to renewables 'must bring workers and communities along' and create jobs in green manufacturing. Unions and climate campaigners are demanding an emergency funding package of £1.9bn a year to help with the transition be included in Rachel Reeves's spending review on Wednesday. 'It's vital that we don't leave oil and gas workers' future in the hands of private companies who put their profits above workers' security and the climate time and time again,' she said. 'We urgently need a renewable energy system fit for the 21st century that can bring down bills, helping our energy security and the climate at the same time. But we must bring workers and communities along and ensure that wind manufacturing and renewable energy jobs stay here in the UK, rather than leaving other countries to benefit from the booming green economy.' The government's independent climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), have called for tight controls on any new North Sea production but have also found that the emissions case for a ban on new projects is 'not clear cut'. 'The CCC has not been able to establish the net impact on global emissions of new UK oil and gas extraction,' the advisers said in a letter to former energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in 2022. This is partly because the UK's oil and gas has a relatively low carbon footprint relative to the countries that supply its gas imports. The UK will continue to be a net importer of fossil fuels by 2050 even when keeping to its net zero ambition. Under the CCC's forecasts, oil and gas will tumble from about 75% of the UK's primary energy demand now to about 23% by 2050. But that would still mean the UK needs over 14m tonnes of oil equivalent each year – most of which will be imported. The UK is increasingly reliant on imports of liquified natural gas from the US and Qatar – which have a far higher carbon intensity than North Sea gas – as well as piped gas from Norway. On the one hand the UK could help lower global emissions by replacing some of these fossil fuel imports with domestic hydrocarbons, but on the other hand any extra oil and gas produced by the UK could risk creating a global oversupply of fossil fuels 'that would pose a risk to the aims of the Paris agreement'. What oil and gas remains is becoming harder to extract, meaning the North Sea basin will still be in terminal decline even if the government loosens its stance. The policy against new North Sea oil projects emerged after the global energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency, warned in 2021 that no new fossil projects could move ahead if the world hoped to meet its climate targets. Here too the hard lines appear to be softening. By 2023 the Paris-based agency clarified its stance, stating that 'no new conventional long-lead time oil projects' should be approved but that 'investing in existing fossil fuel supply, however, is still needed'. The government is expected to clarify its plans for the future of the North Sea through an industry consultation that closed at the end of April. Its response, which is expected in the autumn, is likely to rule out a return to annual North Sea licensing rounds – but industry insiders expect that it will allow at least some new projects to progress. That could leave Miliband in an awkward position. There have been 'discussions within the Labour party for months over how to handle his potential resignation', said an industry source. 'I do think the government is, belatedly, becoming a little more pragmatic about [the North Sea],' the second source added. 'And I suspect that ultimately pragmatism will win the day. But it may be too late, honestly. In the North Sea we're on a worrying downward spiral of job losses and an accelerated production decline.' A DESNZ spokesperson dismissed the claims as 'secondhand speculation' which 'bear no relation' to the government's work to 'implement our manifesto position to not issue new licences to explore new oil and gas fields'. The Treasury did not respond to the Guardian's request beyond the DESNZ statement.
