A small leftwing environmentalist political party in Norway succeeded on Sunday in blocking plans to mine the sea bed at the bottom of the Arctic, by demanding the government scrap its first licensing round in return for support for the budget.

Norway has paused its controversial project to open up its seabed for commercial-scale deep-sea mining. Oslo had planned to let companies apply to mine 280,000 sq km (108,000 sq miles) of its waters for precious metals - an area bigger than the size of the UK.

Norway will not proceed with plans to conduct deep-sea mining, the SV party which supports the minority centre-left government said on Sunday, after it concluded negotiations over next year's budget with the coalition.

Norway's government reached an agreement with a small progressive party to not mine in the Arctic in exchange for it supporting its budget.

Norway has shelved plans to open a vast ocean area at the bottom of the Arctic for commercial-scale deep-sea mining.

Norway has suspended plans to start giving licences for deep-sea mining next year that had faced opposition from environment groups and international institutions, a party allied with the centre-left

The government, however, intends to continue preparatory work, including the regulations development and environmental impacts assessment.