Donald Trump has declared that “the people of Aberdeen, in Scotland, are dancing in the streets” because incoming prime minister Andy Burnham will “open up, all the way, the invaluable North Sea oil”. But the reality facing Burnham as he prepares to enter Downing Street is more complicated.
On Sunday, Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell confirmed that Burnham will stick to the party’s 2024 manifesto pledge to issue no new oil and gas licences, but would adopt a “change of emphasis” on the North Sea. “North Sea gas and oil is an important part of that transition,” she told Laura Kuenssberg. “It’s an important part of the mix.” She said Burnham is “taking a more pragmatic approach” to working with industry.
“Burnham promises 'circuit breaker' for Britain while signalling pragmatic approach to North Sea oil and gas.”
That pragmatism will not extend to approving the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw fields on day one. Both sites were given the go‑ahead by the previous Conservative government, but those decisions are being reconsidered after a successful legal challenge by environmental groups Greenpeace and Uplift. The groups argued that ministers failed to consider the full climate impact of burning the fossil fuels the fields would produce. The Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (Opred) is still reviewing both applications, with consultations closing in August. Jumping the gun, the BBC notes, “would certainly land the government back in court”.
In his first Downing Street address on Monday afternoon, Burnham will offer a broader vision for his premiership. He is expected to say he is “acutely conscious” that he is the country’s seventh prime minister in a decade, but promise that his appointment will be a “circuit breaker for Britain” and bring about “the biggest changes in the last 40 years”.
The tension between Trump’s exuberant prediction of a North Sea free‑for‑all and the legal and political constraints surrounding new drilling means how Burnham squares his manifesto commitments with a “change of emphasis” will become clear only in the weeks ahead. For now, Aberdeen’s dancing may have to wait.