Burnham Signals Pragmatic North Sea Oil Stance to Trump as Labour’s 2024 No-New-Licences Pledge Faces Strain
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 30
Burnham Signals Pragmatic North Sea Oil Stance to Trump as Labour’s 2024 No-New-Licences Pledge Faces Strain
2 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 30
Summary
Andy Burnham said he told Donald Trump he would take a “pragmatic approach” to North Sea oil and gas, arguing the UK cannot ignore the resource while people struggle with energy costs.
Trump has cast that message as a bigger shift, saying Burnham promised to “open up” the North Sea and claiming Scotland could become wealthy from expanded drilling.
No policy change has been announced, but Burnham is under pressure from unions, industry figures and some Labour MPs, while Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged no new drilling licences and to honor existing ones.
Rosebank and Jackdaw remain the immediate test: approvals granted in 2022 and 2023 were overturned in 2025, and the government will eventually have to decide whether production can proceed.
The dispute cuts across UK politics, with Conservatives and Reform backing more drilling, Greens and some Labour MPs warning of climate damage, and fuel-poverty campaigners saying extra North Sea output would not lower bills because gas sells at global prices.