Fahnbulleh to make Rosebank call as Labour pushes back — SkimNews
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Labour MPs are lobbying Andy Burnham and John Healey not to overrule Miatta Fahnbulleh if she decides to block Rosebank, amid an emerging split inside the cabinet.
- Miatta Fahnbulleh’s aides said in a memo circulated to MPs that no Rosebank decision had been made, that she was the only decision-maker and that no other minister saw the advice.
- Andy Burnham said the Rosebank decision belonged to Fahnbulleh alone and called his approach to North Sea oil drilling “pragmatic”, citing last week’s Jackdaw approval as a “bridge to the future”.
- Treasury officials said about £500m in projected Rosebank tax revenue by the end of this parliament had been included in OBR forecasts since 2019, while saying the figures did not prevent Fahnbulleh from blocking the project.
- OBR said its forecast includes Rosebank and estimated that, without production from any new fields, the annual pace of decline in UK oil and gas production would be around 14%.
- Uplift found that Rosebank’s tax take would probably be limited and could be outweighed by incentives for development and decommissioning; Greenpeace UK said taxpayers would remain responsible for the costs of decommissioning for decades.
- Catherine Fookes said Labour MPs expected a significant parliamentary rebellion over Rosebank, unlike Jackdaw, where they were prepared to accept the argument for extracting gas for domestic consumption.
Why it matters: For Labour, Fahnbulleh’s decision carries a concrete political cost: MPs say Rosebank approval would trigger a significant rebellion, while the Treasury projects about £500m in tax revenue by the end of the parliament. Uplift and Greenpeace UK dispute that fiscal case, citing likely incentives and decades-long decommissioning costs.
Ask SkimNews
