Burnham Risks Labour Backlash Over North Sea Drilling
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- Burnham's team is weighing "tieback" arrangements that would connect new oil and gas fields to existing production facilities — a legal workaround the Guardian says would let new drilling proceed without technically breaching Labour's 2024 manifesto pledge against new exploration licences.
- The dispute centres on the Rosebank and Jackdaw sites off north-east Scotland, whose licences were approved under the Conservatives before being overturned by a Scottish court last year over environmental-impact failures.
- Ed Miliband, the energy secretary and Burnham ally tipped for a senior cabinet role, previously described the Rosebank licence as "climate vandalism."
- Mike Reader, a Labour MP aligned with the party's environment campaign group that backed Burnham for leader, said new licences would have "zero impact" on household bills since the fields would generate only a tiny fraction of UK energy demand.
- Tessa Khan of campaign group Uplift said 80% of North Sea oil is exported, that the Jackdaw field would cut gas imports by just 2%, and that approving it would signal the government isn't taking the climate crisis seriously.
- The Guardian previously reported that hundreds of North Sea licences granted under the 14 years of Conservative government produced just 36 days of gas.
Why it matters: Burnham enters Number 10 with climate-aligned MPs who backed his leadership publicly breaking ranks, warning that backing Rosebank and Jackdaw would breach Labour's 2024 manifesto on day one — testing his stated pledge to cut bills before his wider agenda of public ownership and council housebuilding has been launched.
