That involves a parallel process, where the NSTA assesses a project’s development plan while OPRED judges its environmental statement.

The NSTA can’t sign off the development plan or grant drilling consent, though, until OPRED has completed its assessment. During the OPRED process, the environmental statement has to be signed off by DESNZ, effectively giving Miliband a mechanism to overrule the regulator’s recommendations. 

That would give Miliband “in theory … lots of discretion to override regulator decision-making,” said Martin Copeland, chief financial officer at Serica Energy, one of the country’s largest oil and gas companies.   

Paul de Leeuw, an energy expert at Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University, called the guidance “pragmatic” and “timely,” adding it provides “the secretary of state with the powers to make a balanced and informed decision, reflecting a wide range of considerations.” 

A second senior oil and gas industry figure — who has held talks with all major parties including the government and was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive lobbying — said they sensed “a split in government along the lines of environment and economic growth.”   

There are fresh political pressures on Miliband just as these new powers take effect, the same person said.  

“I think there has been winds of change blowing through Westminster in recent months. I think that’s due to a number of reasons. Obviously, the ‘Trump effect’ [backing aggressive fossil fuel drilling in the U.S.] is having a significant impact and it’s galvanizing the right. It’s galvanizing Reform and it’s galvanizing the Tories.”

Luke Sullivan, a former political secretary to Starmer, now a director at consultancy Headland, said Reform’s indefinite leave to remain announcement demonstrated the “complex” policy area is “fraught with political and economic trade-offs.”

The top talent Reeves is hoping to attract is listening. 

Even without being implemented, Reform’s proposals would “have a negative impact on the attractiveness of the U.K. as a destination for the world’s brightest and best researchers because people may worry their right to be in the country could be taken away,” Alicia Greated, executive director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, said. 

“Retrospective changes of this sort would be extremely damaging to U.K. R&D and the wider economy, as well as individuals and their families,” she added. 

Eamonn Ives, research director at The Entrepreneurs’ Network, a London-based think tank that advises on entrepreneur-friendly policies, agreed that international talent needs certainty.

“Instead of jeopardizing the residency status of immigrants already here, we should be doing all we can to welcome the world’s brightest and best,” he said.

“That means having pathways in place to enable international talent to come here, and then giving them the certainty they need to settle down and start building lucrative companies,” he added.

The EU is also extending its regular work to counter disinformation in EU countries to Moldova. In July, the Commission announced a new hub for fighting misinformation in Ukraine and Moldova. These hubs are part of the European Digital Media Observatory, bringing together experts in different regions to fight foreign interference. Six of these hubs will receive €8.8 million for a maximum of three years.  

The EU executive also conducted a stress test with Google, Meta and TikTok, where they simulated responses to hybrid threats in preparation for the election. 

Vițu, chair of the Audiovisual Council, said that much of the EU’s support has gone into Moldova’s StratCom center, providing expertise in mapping disinformation campaigns and hybrid attacks. Moldova has also been working to bring its laws in line with EU rules on content moderation, she said. 

While Vițu praised these initiatives as the “best way” to fight Russian influence, she acknowledged doubts over their effectiveness in fully mitigating threats. Ultimately, the country is at “the mercy of the very big platforms,” she said. 

Concerns have even reached Capitol Hill, where not all members are happy that the U.S. is largely sitting out the upcoming election.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, and Thom Tillis, a Republican, sent letters to Meta and Alphabet earlier this month urging the platforms to prevent the spread of propaganda during the Moldovan election.